Seldom Love, Simple Life
by Versivalia
Summary: Everything was fine. Almost good, even. But then she came along, with that red hair and those strange eyes...and everything that I worked towards, everything I did to keep my life under control went to hell. I said it before, and I'll say it again; without love, life would be so much simpler. SoKai AU
1. Broken Man

**For _Spellbound Daydreamer_.**

**Welcome to this 'ere fic! My first in the KH fandom, and I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, Sora and Kairi woulda kissed, as well as Roxas and Naminé, AND Vanitas and Aqua would be found in extremely romantically awkward situations. Because the lub each other :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Prologue: Broken Man<strong>

"C'mon man!"

"No."

"It ain't bad!"

"_No_."

"But you're the only one in our group who–!"

"How many times have I told you about how I feel about these things?"

"I know, but if you just _knew–_"

I hate blind dates.

No, scratch that. I hate _dating_.

My name is Sora Fair. I'm sixteen-and-a-quarter years old, and _happily single_. I shall be eternally single. That is the best that quality about me.

That boy, who won't stop pestering me, is my twin, Roxas.

"He has a point, hun, you need to–"

"Mom," I said, my voice lowering a few decibels. "It's my life"

_That's_ my mom, Aerith Gainsborough, another person who opposes my ideals.

I stared out of the window and looked beyond our seaside house, to the blue oblivion of ocean that spread across the main island of my home, Destiny Islands. I itched to run out and plunge into the ocean. It was silent, and peaceful there.

In my own psyched up family, I have a two older brothers, my idiot twin, Roxas, who constantly stresses the fact he's older than me (fourteen minutes, and he tries to behave as though it's fourteen _years_) and Ventus, who is currently twenty-six.

Roxas is five foot eleven, like me, has honey blond hair that is swept to the side with spikes, and spiky bangs that fall down the centre of his face, narrowly missing his eyes. We look very similar, almost identical, apart from the hair. He's a fairly quiet guy, to people he doesn't know well, but to his friends and family he's loud, humorous, and a little lacking in the brains department. Don't get me wrong, he isn't a flunk, his marks are above average, but when it comes to the art of reconnaissance - which I, admittedly, excel in - and constantly passes strange, and idiotic, comments.

For example, approximately five years ago when Roxas and I were spending our summer vacation in Radiant Garden (due to my mother's job), he met this girl named Xion. The two quickly became friends, and met up constantly in the holidays. Eventually, Xion moved to Twilight Town, and couldn't meet up with him, as said place was too far away. Instead of some heartfelt comment on how he would miss her and what great friends they were, Roxas quite simply stated,

"Who else will I have ice-cream with?"

And as his brother, I have made it my point to constantly embarrass him about said situation, again, and again, and again.

My other brother, Ven, looks absolutely _identical_ to Roxas, excluding the ten year age gap. Ventus has been in a coma for the past seven years in COHORTS. Castle Oblivion Hospital for Overly Rough Timely Situations.

I also had another brother, Vanitas, who was Ven's twin, but he died when he was four, due to serious neurological complications. From the few pictures we had of him, _I_ was the exact spitting image of Van, the only difference being the skin tone, as he was fairly pale, whereas I was tan, he had ebony hair and amber eyes, only I had russet hair and sky blue eyes. Ven, Roxas and I all share my Dad's eyes, no one got my mother's end of the gene pool, apart from my hair colour.

My mother, Aerith Gainsborough, is what people consider a wonder. She's young, for a mom I guess, and has long braided back russet coloured hair, tied back with a huge pink ribbon that my dad got her on their first date. She has bright, emerald eyes, and a soft voice that almost seems to float around the room.

From what my mom is willing to divulge, her father died when she was only twenty days old, her mother put her in the care of Grandma Elmy (she makes us call her that, it's actually Elmyra) and she was brought up in the slums of Midgar, but eventually moved up here to Destiny Islands, when Ven was born.

She owns the only florist, Fair's Flowery, in our small cluster of islands, so business is always booming, what with the stress on beguiling and cajoling our residents desperately want. Despite what went down with Vanitas, Ventus, and of course my Dad's death when I was four, she is still happy, calm, and... Content. She'd sometimes get a sad look about her, whenever she thinks about the previous occurrences, but she always pulls through, and doesn't dwell on her hurt feelings.

My Dad, Zack Fair, was a SOLDIER 1st Class for Shinra. He originally had cerulean blue eyes, but after the Mako energy infusion they went to a more sky blue colour, with light green near the pupils. He had spiky black hair, and was a self-proclaimed "ladies-man". "But I only have eyes for you Aer!" he'd add, whenever he told us about his past.

My parents never married. It wasn't surprising considering how little time they spent together. It was all, "Love needs no distance" and all that. My parents barely had enough time as it was, and yet they still decided to try and raise a family together. Their "_love_" went beyond all bounds. _Please. _They had Ven when they were still teenagers.

My opinion on all this? Well, call it what you want, but I think that Dad and Mum just had a fling. I mean, who can fall in love so quickly? Who can be _sure _they have the _time_ for a kid, when they barely had time for each other? The proper standards for their "love" were stacked against them. Sure, thanks to them I exist right now, but… How can you be so sure, so quickly?

Dad's death just made it seem as though a part of my Mom had gone to the lifestream with him.

When you believe in _love, _the only thing that you can be sure of, is hurt.

Which is why I'm glaring at my brother, hoping he'll disintegrate at my gaze.

"Dude, she's Naminé's cousin. Rinoa's daughter. Y'know, Tifa's sister Rinoa? She needs someone to take her around, show her the sights…"

"You could've simple enlisted Naminé, or someone else for the job. You don't need to make a…_date _for it." It pained spitting out that disgusting word.

"_Ye-ah_." He drew out the word. "But Nami and I have a date, and it'd be rude to cancel…"

I couldn't help but let out a groan.

Another case of this "all-must-bow-down-to-the-power-of-love" belief, was shown through Roxas.

Roxas, as he progressed through his teenage years, became an anti-social, bitter and emo individual. He believed he was a "Nobody", and didn't have feelings or a heart, and all that depressing behavior. At one point we assumed he joined a cult gang, but there's been no proof of that, and his ridiculous behavior stopped when he met his supposed _significant other_.

Naminé Strife is the daughter of our closest family friends, Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart. Just last year she settled down permanently here with her parents, from her boarding school in Radiant Garden.

I had befriended her quickly, and she met Roxas.

And it was during the period of his "faze" which he was blaming everything, such as Ven's predicament, Dad's death, everything.

Naminé took an immediate interest in Roxas'... _situation_. She spent hours talking with us, mainly him. And... He listened to her. She seemed to get through to him, more than Mom and I did.

Apparently she had a similar problem when she was younger, but she pulled through when she remembered that there were people who cared about her. Aw.

Don't get me wrong, I was, and still am, totally grateful to Naminé for stopping Roxas from practically killing himself. And so was Roxas. Only he was "friends" with her for about a week when he decided he _loved_ Naminé. And she said yes.

He refused to listen when I told him that he was only FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. You can't be _in love_ so young! It isn't right. And it just isn't natural.

The brainless fool is staring at me expectantly, trying to pull puppy-eyes on me. Pfft. I'm immune to everything he tries.

"Bro. PLEEEAAASE!" He pouted like a baby.

My suspicions increased. "Why are you so keen on me going on this…_date_?" He normally wasn't so…enthused…

"Oh, um, well…" His face started breaking out into sweat.

"_Roxas_… Spit. It. Out." My eyebrows furrowed further.

He mumbled incoherently.

"At least let me make sense of what you're trying to tell me." I said with a sigh.

"Riku…and I had a bet… That you would go on a date… fifty munny…" He looked downright frightened.

He should be scared.

"WHAT!" I yelled. "I thought I TOLD you, NO MORE BETTING WITH RIKU!" Mainly because Riku always won. And I'd be left to cover for Roxas.

Riku… He's the craziest best friend a guy could have.

He's the only person that I know, who somewhat agrees with me. Riku. Just Riku, no last name or anything. He lived in the Mayor's household since he was born, because his parents disappeared off the face of the earth. Riku's ideals are different to mine, he doesn't believe in "settling down".

"What's the point on _one_ girl, when there are plenty of fish in the sea?" is a trademark quote of his. At seventeen years old, broad shouldered, butch, with straight, unique silver hair, that stops approximately two or so inches from his elbows, and vivid turquoise eyes, Riku is, as he put it, a girl's dream. He'd have a new girlfriend every week or so, and _never_ stays single long. Although his view on girls and love is pretty much warped and low, he means well. He has many friends who are girls, and he isn't a total player.

He was a good guy, generally. He and I used to be rivals at _everything_ (still are, in a way)

"Why don't you ask Riku?" I asked Roxas, with the straightest face I could muster. I already knew the answer.

"He'll freak her out." Roxas deadpanned.

"He'll only be…" I trailed off, and then sighed. "Blatantly flirting." I finished.

"Exactly."

"…"

My mother spoke up from the kitchen. "Roku, don't make your brother do things he's uncomfortable with."

Embarrassment flooded my cheeks in a blush. "Mom!" I whined. Roxas had the gall to smirk at me. I refrained from punching him in the face.

_"You wanna be, you wanna be, a loser like me!"_ blared out of my iPhone. I stared at it in shock, and turned to my brother.

"You changed my alarm tone."

"…" He giggled nervously, bolted, and fled into our room.

I sighed, and stepped outside to get to work.

I passed kissing couples, a man proposing and many other scenes on my way. I pulled my hood up, hoping to escape the obscenities.

This _love_ that everyday teens, and even adults, are so obsessed about ISN'T REAL. We see divorce and other pointless quarrels happen to people everyday. Love isn't going to support your future. Love isn't going to get you good grades. Love isn't going to help you in the long run. Or even right now.

The point is, _I absolutely refuse to believe, or fall, in love._

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><p><strong>AN: **

**Review! I appreciate anything, including nice flames because they tell me what I'm doing wrong. :L**

**And in the case you were curious, the reason Sora speaks sort of... **_**formally**_** is because he likes sounding all educated and smart. Which (in this fic) you could say he is. He is, indeed, VERY OOC! So do not shun me! (lol rhymes XD) As certain events occur (*smirks*) he will become the bumbling, naive sweetie we all adore. But he'll still be smart :)**

**~Versy**

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><p>Word Count: 2 026<p> 


	2. Paradise

**A/N: I noticed I didn't disclaim Sora's alarm tone on his phone in da last chappie. It's **_**Loser Like Me**_** by **_**Glee**_**.**

**Review Replies:**

_**Zack**_**: Well you have your update! And, as to the fact that love is liability… Is it really? Sora certainly thinks so ;D But… Will that change? Or is he doomed to a life of "happily single" solitude? Hehe…**

**If you have an account, I PM you back :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Kingdom Hearts**_**. Tetsuya Nomura does. And if I were TN, ZACK FAIR WOULDN'T HAVE DIED! *****bursts into tears*. I also don't own **_**Paradise**_** by **_**Coldplay**_**.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Paradise<strong>

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><p>Tifa Lockhart was, by far, the strongest and toughest woman in the entire Southern Hemisphere – and possibly the world. She was probably in the "top five strongest" category of individuals on Destiny Islands, and that was including men. Not to sound sexist, of course.<p>

With the vigorous training natives go through since birth, it was shocking that Tifa, who came from outside Destiny Islands, had made it so far in DI history with her skills in martial arts. She grew up in Nibelheim with her childhood friend now husband, Cloud Strife.

Tifa had also been voted "Hottest female over twenty-five" on the island. It was really no surprise with her long cream-coloured legs and brilliant hair. Her dark brown locks shimmer as if they came from a shampoo commercial. Her sex appeal had only one setting, and that was **high**. If Cloud wasn't by her side, many men would try to put moves on her (as they did when they thought he wasn't looking), but it didn't matter too much. It just gave her a chance to use her hand-to-hand combat skills. Needless to say, she's had a _lot_ of practice.

She now owns the Islands' famous bar and nightclub, 7th Heaven.

7th Heaven was once a large warehouse, but after Tifa and Cloud moved to DI, they spent two years transforming it into the most popular club in the entire Southern Hemisphere. The interior no longer bore any trace of its origin. Inside, it was a thriving nightclub. The entire dance floor was covered in ten-inch square lights that flashed in different colours. Huge speakers surrounded the entire club and a few were even strung up on the ceiling. In the front left corner was a vending machine for the under 21's. Towards the back of the nightclub, there was a huge black stage with equipment set up for the band, and beyond that, a mixer for the DJ. Diagonally to the right, there was a 21-and-over bar where Tifa was stationed. On the left side of the stage were dressing rooms, where I was.

"Sora!" Tifa cried from the bar, her voice loud enough to hear over the cheers of young (and some old) partygoers, "You're up!"

I work as half the entertainment for 7th Heaven, the other half being Neku, the DJ, who was also one of my best friends. He was _anti-love _– or at least I think he was. Considering the rather _close relationship_ he has with our friend Shiki, it was hard to state whether or not he was against love.

Neku Sakuraba was probably the most anti-social person I had ever met. Over the year that we've known each other, he has gotten considerably better, but he still prefers to be wrapped up in his large indigo headphones than to interact with others. With his unique orange hair, spiked nicely, unreadable blue eyes, and tall slender build, many people want to be his friend, but are constantly rejected.

"Alright," Neku spoke up through the microphone, his voice in its usual dry tone. "Next up, we have one of our usual performers." I allowed a smile when I heard the cheers fill up the club.

I took a deep breath, recalled my lyrics, and adjusted my dark Ray Ban Wayfarers over my eyes. I looked into the dressing room mirror and took in my appearance.

A navy blue cap, that shaded my already hidden cerulean eyes, concealed my outrageously spiky russet-coloured hair. I wore a pitch-black t-shirt, shrouded by a stylish leather jacket, and navy-blue skinny jeans. The entire look was topped off with black converse high-tops – my usual stage attire. I smiled confidently, certain that the audience wouldn't recognize me like in every other performance. Only Tifa, Cloud, the staff, my mom, idiot brother, and a few close friends know that I perform at 7th Heaven. If others knew my true identity, they would constantly beg me to perform at the club and even worse – _fangirls._

"Give it up, for the Keyblader!"

Smiling, I picked up my customized key-shaped guitar, slung the strap over my shoulders, and made my way to the stage.

The cheers grew louder and louder as I stepped onto the fog-covered platform. Cloud loved to go all out with stage decorations. He said it "keeps him pleased." I knew better than to pester him with questions. He didn't lug my dad's old Buster Sword around for nothing.

I stopped when I reached the center of the stage. Neku tossed me the mike. I turned around to give a reassuring smile to the band before facing the audience.

They were screaming and jumping around. It was hard not to grin at the sight.

I never spoke onstage since – god forbid – people could recognize my voice.

The music started and the lyrics rushed to my head.

"_When she was just a girl_

_She expected the world._

_But it flew away from her reach, so_

_She ran away in her sleep"_

The cheers were deafening. It was difficult to sing over the noise without breaking a note.

"_Life goes on, it gets so heavy_

_The wheel breaks the butterfly_

_Every tear a waterfall_

_In the night, the stormy night she'll close her eyes"_

My feet glided across the floor as I sang, and I watched as people waved their arms frantically in the crowd.

"_And dreamed of_

_Para-para-paradise_

_Para-para-paradise_

_Para-para-paradise_

_Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh"_

The song finished and the audience broke into deafening applause. I smiled down at them.

I loved performing in front of crowds ever since I was a child. I loved the look of elation on people's faces when I sang before them. It was like I was free, free from their judgment or expectations. They could only judge me by my singing. I was my own person, I didn't have to hide, and the audience – these people – seemed to understand that.

But once I take my cap off, I go back to being Sora Vanitas Fair.

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><p>Sweat dripped down my forehead as the last song came to an end. The only people left were some older citizens who were ridiculously drunk, Roxas, and the few staff.<p>

"Another awesome performance, dear bro!" Roxas chirruped, looking hopeful.

He followed me to the dressing room, where I removed my cap and sunglasses. I shook my spikes free and glared at him.

"I'm not letting you off," I said flatly, gulping from my water bottle.

His face instantly turned into some sort of pathetic pout.

"Pwease?"

I should slap that idiot. In fact, my hand was rising ready for a swift whack to his head when Neku entered.

"Good performance," Neku said, nodding in my direction. "So much noise from the crowd."

"Thanks, man," I replied, pulling on my sky-coloured "Gullwings Soar!" t-shirt.

Neku spoke softly, despite the loud noise emanating from his headphones. "Tifa wants to see you two. She said to meet her at the bar".

I nodded back and pulled on my black shorts. Now I looked like Sora Fair.

"Thanks Phones!" Roxas grinned, as though he had accomplished something great.

Oh sh–

Neku gave Roxas a sharp glare. "Don't you owe me thirty munny?" he said, his voice accusatory.

Roxas paled and started sweating. "N-no…"

"Sora! Roxas! Come out please!" Tifa's voice sang out. Roxas bolted from the room as Neku looked on suspiciously. I packed my clothes into a tattered black backpack, slung it over my shoulders, and went out to meet Tifa.

She was cleaning up the bar's countertop, her dark brown hair swaying side to side as she scrubbed.

Roxas made a loud and false cough.

"Oh, boys," she said with a smile. "My sister's daughter, Kairi, has just moved here, and I need one of you to maybe show her 'round tomorrow?"

I could feel Roxas' superior smirk burn holes through the side of my head. I could basically hear him thinking, _"Fifty munny AND a chance to make my brother suffer? I so win this round." _I'm probably not too far off the mark, lending credibility to the theory of "twin telepathy." But if his mind was _anything_ like mine, he would know that now would be the perfect time to run.

"Oh. I'm _SO_ sorry Tiff!" Roxas said with mock-disappointment. "Nami and I have our one-year anniversary tomorrow, and I _PROMISED_ I'd take her out!"

"Oh well." Tifa said, waving her hand dismissively. "What about you Sora? You busy tomorrow?"

Before I could even open my mouth, Roxas started to yell.

"Sora? Busy? No way! He is totally free, and would _love_ to take Miss Kairi Leonhart out!"

"Oh that's great! I'll send her over!" Tifa smiled, ruffling Roxas' and my hair. "You just make sure that my niece has a great time tomorrow!"

Roxas and I left the club in silence.

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><p>11:36 shined on my watch as Roxas and I trudged home.<p>

"C'mon, at least talk to me man!" Roxas whined as we walked through our empty street. The streetlights were flickering faintly on and off, giving the path an eerie look.

I pointedly looked away from Roxas and continued to stare at the churning dark sea just beyond the ghostly strip of glowing white sand. The thin crescent moon was ominous and let out a luminescent light that looked strange against the cloudy starless night.

Roxas sighed and we continued on our way.

It wasn't long until we went into a halt. A young man, whose face we couldn't make out, was making his way out of _our_ house. He promptly began walking in our direction.

Roxas and I were rooted to the spot.

Who was he?

Why was he in our house?

And what did he want?

In less than a minute, he was right in front of us.

He looked to be about Ven's size and stature, and was wearing this strange black outfit that fitted his muscled arms. There was a red glow near the lower arms, and the same red glow was also on his chest and defined his apparent six-pack and other body muscles. He wore this strange – almost skirt-like – blue-red material around his waist, secured by two crisscrossing red belts and another one. He was walking in chestnut-coloured boots.

His face wasn't visible through a dark mask that covered his visage.

He looked down at us (or at least appeared to) and chuckled.

"It's like some sort of reunion," he muttered, his voice laced with something I couldn't define.

Then he ran past us, deep into the night, leaving me filled with thoughts about the masked boy. Roxas and I bolted into our home to check if everything was safe – strangely enough, it was.

Who the hell…?

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><p><strong>AN:**

**I wanted to make the chappie longer, but it was hard to do that :(**

**So! How was that! Kairi's making her appearance next! Should be fun :)**

**And… Who was the masked boy? Okay, I know all of you know (or think you do) BUT how is that possible? It is possible my friends, you'll see :DDD**

**A BIG thank you to **_**Jomatto **_**for beta-reading this chappie! Hopefully he'll beta-read for me in the future too!**

**CHECK OUT HIS STORY LOVE SICK! You will **_**not**_** regret it.**

**Thank you for the reviews! They all made me feel like the awesomest person alive!**

'**Til next time!**

**~Versy**

Word Count (PM inclusive): 2'025 ***sighs***


	3. Enchanted

**A/N: *sighs* I'm back!**

**School is why chappie updates are ridiculously slow – so hopefully the length will make up for that.**

**Also, I changed the rating of the fic and the themes.**

_**Review Replies:**_

**Yu207: Hi!**

**Thank you! I love it when people say that :) Kairi is in da house! I hope you like my portrayal of her!**

**KeybladeM757: Thanks!**

**Um, never heard of Tony the Tiger, sorry – Aussie speaking over here. Yes, Kairi is here! Be amazed! Be happy! Very awesome indeed :)**

**About this chappie… **

**BE WARNED. MINOR SWEARING. VERY MINOR. ALMOST NON-EXISTANT. ALMOST.**

**You might find yourself extremely annoyed with this chappie. I was, I'm putting off my Geography Essay.**

**Disclaimer: "KINGDOM HEARTS! WHERE IS… MY… HEART...?**

**Saïx: Hey! That's my line! Bit-**

**Versy: Don't you say it Saïx puppy! Don't even think about it!**

**Saïx: You shouldn't even be having this conversation with me! Kingdom Hearts belongs to Xem- I mean, Tetsuya Nomura!**

**So there you have it people. Kingdom Hearts doesn't belong to me. Boo-bloody-hoo. Neither do I own Gilmore Girls. You find the reference.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Enchanted<strong>

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><p><em>"You don't need glowing clothes to shine."<em>

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><p>"More control," Aqua Rainfell commanded, her soft but firm voice urging me on. My Keyblade ricocheted off the practice dummy as I applied more and more vigor in my hits.<p>

"Now, finish it!" The shabby dummy successfully separated into two as I delivered the final blow. Sweat poured from my forehead as I sheathed my blade and bowed to Aqua before gulping down the contents of my elixir.

I was in Dojo Departure, a small, rundown, old warehouse with the roof almost caving in, where I trained Sunday and Saturday mornings from six in the morning until nine. Aqua Rainfell, who has been training me since I was fourteen – the eligible age to _officially_ train with a weapon – smiled down at me as I toweled my soaking hair. I was training to take part in the annual "Under 18-Over 16 Sparring Tournament" to have ready for my college applications. And the one thousand munny prize. Aqua's training price was cheap, and Keyblade wielding was a useful skill to have.

"I heard from a certain blond-headed twin that _someone_ has a date today. Why wasn't I in on this?"

I heard the amusement loud and clear in her voice. She knew very well how I feel about...you know...

"News travels much too fast around here," I said, keeping my voice nonchalant.

Aqua chuckled and ruffled my damp spikes. "True. It is a lot like Star's Hollow, but seriously, do you honestly think it'll be that bad?"

Aqua was a young blue-haired woman with a kind smile and sweet disposition. She was tall, thin, and attractive. She was too nice to almost anyone and I don't think anyone has ever seen her yell or get angry.

One thing I liked about Aqua; she didn't push things. She would question and put her point across but never forced others into anything.

I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I mean, _I _won't see it as a date. Why should Kairi?"

Aqua hummed in assent, but her head snapped up. "Wait... _Kairi_?" she said slowly.

I raised an eyebrow, "Yes, Kairi. You know her?"

"I... No. I met a girl – this was years ago – with that name. Though she's probably not the same person."

I pondered about this and shook my head. The only time Aqua ever went to Radiant Garden was with Ven and Terra – when she was like, eighteen. Kairi would've been four or something, and I didn't think Aqua was the type of person to associate with four year olds.

She sent me to do a couple of laps around the arena before calling me over again.

"Roxas texted," she said, waving her phone around. "Wants you at home, 'ASAP! KAIRI HAS ENTRD TEH PRMESIS!'" I rolled my eyes at her Roxas impersonation. "Also, I need you to scram too. Terra wants me over for breakfast; we're going to visit Ven this afternoon."

I nodded and smiled. Aqua Rainfell and Terra Groundshaker were Ven's best friends. They had known each other since high-school and were an inseparable trio. Terra, a large strong hulk with chiseled features and more muscles than bone, was Aqua's boyfriend. After Ven's accident, they felt that they couldn't really focus on a romantic relationship for reasons beyond me. They just went back to being friends. Things were working and they were happy.

I think.

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><p>I dragged my feet towards my house, only bothering to speed up somewhat when Roxas sent me panicky texts.<p>

Eventually, I stopped in front of my sunflower-coloured, rose-vine covered door. Our house was once old decrepit church where my mother spent most of her time in when she was younger. My parents both (with the little money they had) tried renovating the place, leaving it two stories high, with three small bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and a sea-view backyard.

Despite being a first-class SOLDIER, my father wasn't paid excessively. He didn't have to worry about necessities as Shinra provided that for him, and he lived in the stronghold the company had for its SOLDIERs. Shinra provides us some munny each month to compensate for his death – but it was never enough.

My father was big on sports. Whenever he came to visit us, he'd almost always take us out to various places to 'train' in a way. We had been playing struggle, basketball, blitzball, surfing, and soccer since we were very young. These skills he wanted us to develop wound up helping us when he died and we needed money. Roxas was a struggle champion for four years running while I was a surfing tournament winner for the same amount of time. The munny we made from our sporting events helped when Mum's florist business was slow.

One thing that did set our place apart from others was our stunning garden. Mum had cultivated a stunning array of plant life in our back and front yard – growing it into an exotic wasteland. Our entire area was surrounded by a tall hedge, giving us a good shield from onlookers.

We didn't have enough money to have professional gardeners to take care of our large array of plants, but my mother always insisted on grooming every plant – and under her care, the flora bloomed.

I let myself in, frowning slightly at the rickety old gate we needed to fix.

Roxas answered the door before my hand even grazed the doorknob.

"Sora!" he cried, like it had been three weeks instead of three hours. "We thought you weren't going to show!"

Naminé peered out from behind him.

"He's been ripping out his hair for half an hour," she said in her soothing voice. Despite my annoyance at Roxas, Naminé always had a way of calming me down, and kept my angry emotions in check.

Naminé was incredibly elegant in the way she carried herself, she didn't like to be showy, and tended to be in the background, observing what went on around her to reach her verdict. Her light form, almost always in a white dress with little blue sandals decorated with flowers, shined whenever she was near. She had milky skin, platinum hair tossed partially over her shoulder, and a sweet smile. She was the type who'd play the role of psychologist, that kind that people would actually want to talk to. She radiated this silent confidence and was very sure of who she was.

Something I was very envious of.

"Roxas! Nami!" a new voice called out. "What are you guys up to?"

And then _she_ entered.

A tallish girl, maybe a few centimetres shorter than me, stared hard at me, as though she was expecting me to do a couple of head spins. I pulled my face into a deep frown at her stare. She was wearing a white tank top and purple skort.

She had this strange hair, a bright red, not a ginger red colour, but a mix of burgundy, cranberry, carmine, and some black. It went a little past her shoulders and it looked like she kept a lot of product in it. Her hair was practically shimmering.

And then, there were her eyes; very much like Naminé's, but by looking into them, as intently as she was into mine, I saw that they had more purple, whereas Naminé had more of a cool blue. Definitely not islander type eyes.

My face fell into a deeper frown but she just stared harder.

"When you guys are done with the staring competition, how about we make some introductions?"

Damn. I could practically _hear_ the smirk in Roxas' voice.

I leaned back, with a calm mask, and relaxed my gaze.

"Sora, brudda, this is Kairi. Kai, this is my too-cool-for-school brudda Sora."

I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes at my brother's "too-cool-for-school" introduction.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sora," she said with a calm voice, extending her hand. It was soft around my own.

"Welcome to Destiny Islands." I said.

Because honestly, what else could you say in this situation?

* * *

><p>Roxas handed me two tickets to Gold Saucer, the biggest amusement park in all of DI. Instantly, warning bells went off in my head.<p>

"Roxas!" I hissed, making sure no one could hear, "Why the - you _know_ Gold Saucer tickets cost tonnes! Where the hell did you get the munny for this! You go right back and _return _them or-"

"What?" Roxas asked with a smile on his face. "They were a gift."

"From _who_?"

Gold Saucer cost about seventy-five munny for a basic ticket per person. Roxas was handing me two _premium _tickets that cost about one-hundred and twenty-five munny _each_. One of us could've gone to a Hollywood _red carpet premiere_ (minus the plane ticket) with the two-hundred and fifty munny these tickets amounted to.

Roxas sighed, like _I _was being a pain. "Just make sure you show her a good time."

I wasn't having any of that. I grabbed his shirt and shook him. "Who gave them to you?" I snarled. "The munny could've gone to something better like–"

"–like what, Sora? Like what? We're doing much better now, Mum's business is booming, your paycheck from 7th Heaven is _huge_, I won the street skateboarding competition last Friday, we are _fine_. Stop panicking! This isn't like when Dad died and Ven was put in hospital! We finally have time and munny to do things like _normal _teenagers!"

Roxas gave me a hard glare; his hands were in fists.

It was true, what he was saying. We did have a lot more munny for luxury than when we were in what Roxas and I dubbed, 'The Dark Days.' Back then, the clothes we wore were almost rags and our meals were the same almost every day. We had to make sure the government had no idea about our struggle, or else we would've been taken to one of those old shelters. Mum worked in various homes as a cleaner. She would wind up working for hours on end and was at home for only a couple of hours at a time. Roxas and I barely saw her, but in the few hours we did – I could never forget what she looked like. Hollowed out eyes, starved and pained, and her hair was limp and lifeless – almost always scraggly. Her face held a greyish tinge, making her seem years older than what she actually was. She was so thin; she could've been mistaken for an anorexic. I swore that I'd make sure that it would never happen to her ever again. These past few years have been the best for her, she burst with life, was so much healthier, and her happiness filled the house.

I liked to think that I started hating love when I saw what my parents' love led to, but I knew that the cause was much deeper than that.

"Just tell me," I asked Roxas, almost desperately.

He smiled slightly. "Riku. I told him that you were going on a date, and he insisted on this."

I felt myself relax. As much as I didn't really like Riku being charitable – I knew it was part of his character. It was better than the times he offered us large sums of munny when we were broke.

"Fine. But never again, alright?"

"Whatever. Oh, Nami and I are gonna take Hershey out, cuz we're going up to Paopu Pier," he said.

"Okay," I said, unaware of his plan.

"You and Kai'll have to take Cadbury. Make sure she's happy. In fact...take her out to the Lookout. If I hear bad stuff...I'll tell Mum who trampled the lilies."

Oh shit. I started to splutter, "B-but–!"

"Be a good boy!" Then the idiot left.

It only dawned on me what his plan was when I opened the garage.

Cadbury was the name we gave our small motorcycle, a very old model made by Highwind and Co. It was tiny, but fast and rarely gave us any trouble.

The only complication was that it was made for _one_.

See the problem?

This was why I was currently seated awkwardly on Cadbury, with Kairi squeezed in behind me – her arms wrapped tightly around my chest, with us pressed against each other.

I was going to _kill_ Roxas.

"Sora!" Kairi raised her voice over the vrooming of the engine, interrupting my thoughts about the most painful way to kill Roxas. Ripping off his skin was the most tempting. "Where's our first stop?"

"Gold Saucer. It's the most popular amusement park on DI," I grunted, speeding up.

"Oh, cool!" she yelled. "How long will we be there?"

"Until two in the afternoon. Then I'll take you to see the Lookout."

"That sounds great."

Her arms around me tightened.

I felt stiff.

She was resting her head against my back.

Painful memories were starting to resurface.

Kairi's squeal broke me from my thoughts.

"Oh my God! Is that it?"

I pulled up in front of Gold Saucer, dismounted, and tossed my keys to the gatekeeper. He smirked when he saw Cadbury. I glared back.

Gold Saucer was basically a smaller, simpler version of Disney World. It contained seven different rides and stalls – all surrounding a large saucer-shaped monument.

Kairi looked up at it in awe.

"C'mon Sora!" she cried, pulled me into the park.

I tried not to focus on the grip she had on my hand.

* * *

><p>Kairi dragged me to the longest queue in the park, <em>Dream Drop Distance<em>. It was the newest attraction and easily the most popular.

_Dream Drop Distance_ was a huge drop ride, six hundred metres high, with a drop speed of 100km/h. Kairi continued to hold my hand and bounced up and down like a child.

"Would you quit jerking my arm around like that?" I spat, as we clipped on our seatbelts.

Kairi's face turned sour. "I'm excited!"

My face drooped in annoyance, "Well your excitement is dislocating my shoulder."

I didn't bother to turn around to look at her face.

"And besides," I continued, "We've already wasted a half-hour waiting in the bloody queue."

"Oh lighten up!" Kairi said, "No need to put a damper on a positive vibe!"

I couldn't help but let out a scoff, "_Positive vibe?_ What are you, some kinda hippie?" I felt the ride start to climb upwards; a few sissies started to let out screams.

"No," Kairi said, her words dripping with annoyance. "Just a happy person here."

We nearly reached the top of the drop. The view of the park took my breath away.

"Well, you can take your _happy_, and–" The ride came to a shuddering halt.

We were falling.

Kairi let out a whoop of glee but the only thing coming out of my mouth was-

"_Oh crap! Damn it! Shit! Let me off this fu-"_

The fear of imminent death took over as I started shrieking.

I missed the flash of the camera.

* * *

><p>Kairi was still sniggering at the picture from <em>Dream Drop Distance<em> as we walked into _Mickey Mouse Play-house_, the biggest play theatre on the eastern side of DI.

"Would you quit it?" I glared at her.

"I can't help it!" She was giggling uncontrollably, "You look so freaked!"

The image showed Kairi laughing her head off in apparent joy, with me – stupid, terrified me – screaming my head off, with tears leaking out of my eyes.

And it was in high resolution.

"I don't understand how anyone could've found that 'fun,'" I snarled. "I'm surprised it cleared the board!"

This sent her into another peal of laughter. My glare turned into a half-hearted frown.

"But hey," she said, after her laughter died down, "You survived, and I have excellent blackmail material." She waved the aggravating photo around, "So everyone's happy!

I rolled my eyes. "You're worse than Roxas."

"Ouch," she said, a smirk still playing on her face. I turned my face away.

"Oh! They're playing _Birth by Sleep_! I loved the movie! Jesse McCartney... God, I practically fainted!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah it was originally a play. It was one of my brother's favourites. He and his friends used to watch it all the time. But he hated the ending."

"Who, Roxas?" she asked, scanning the brochure she picked up from the front desk.

"Nah, Ventus. My oldest brother."

"Oh," Kairi said quietly. "I'm sorry."

I glanced at her, surprised, "What are you sorry for?"

"Bringing it up. Roxas...told me about what happened to your brother. It must've been awful."

She looked very sincere.

"It's been seven years. You tend to get over these kinda situations," I said, almost smiling.

That didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around my torso.

I exhaled sharply.

"We're going to be late for the play." I quickly pulled away, and adjusted my shirt.

I purchased the tickets, and we headed into the dark theatre.

It was a story about three friends: one was a traitor, the other a happy-go-lucky kinda guy, and the last – a woman – the only survivor. It followed their journey as they discovered the evil that was lurking in their world, and their attempts to destroy it. Only the traitor got consumed by the darkness, the happy-go-lucky one got murdered, and the woman practically went mad with grief.

It was a pretty depressing play.

Kairi remained silent during the entire thing, only to let out a small cough when the traitorous friend murdered his master.

We exited the theatre in silence.

"Well, that was depressing," Kairi piped up, voicing my thoughts.

"You don't say?" I said, sarcastically.

"Well, the movie version was different. It had a happy ending – mind you, it was very long. But...everything worked out in the end."

"This is supposed to portray real life. So naturally there are no happy endings."

Kairi fell silent at that. She spoke up at the entrance to the TRON LEGACY: LIGHT CYCLING gate. "Do you honestly believe that?"

"Happy endings only happen in fairytales. And really bad fanfiction."

And with that I marched into the arena.

* * *

><p>Admittedly, it was a little harsh of me to say that – but it <em>was<em> the truth.

Kairi was busy getting her Tron armour fitted and I was leaning against my lightcycler contemplating the progress of this "outing." So far, Kairi hadn't sprung a date reference on me and didn't act like we were on one...thereby suggesting that she felt this was more of a friendly outing – which was completely what I was going for.

On the other hand, the way she had embraced me on my motorcycle and at the play-house was very...close, and I still wasn't sure why (I was still having trouble believing it had happened in the first place). Her hug...or embrace, was extremely close and an offer for comfort, but we hadn't reached that sort of stage in our relationship – thereby adding more evidence to the idea that she might be harbouring some sort of "more-than-friends" feeling towards me. Or...she could be a touchy-feely type person, but that was doubtful considering that the only time we came into physical contact, excluding the times when she dragged me somewhere, was when our shoulders occasionally brushed.

But, maybe I'm blowing this whole Kairi-thing out of proportion. I hope I was. I didn't need a repeat of-

_No. The past has passed. You need to stop thinking about that._

I let out a deep breath.

Speaking of Kairi...where was she?

Almost answering my thoughts, a loud _vroom vroom _sound was right behind me.

I let out a yelp, and turned to face a now armoured Kairi.

She was wearing the girl version of my own uniform – tight leggings, with a glowing strip going up her legs, a short skirt edged with the same luminescent strip, tight fitting metal plated tank-top, and elbow length gloves. She adjusted the mask over her face and winked at me.

"Does this uniform make me look like a hunk o' metal? Cuz I really don't need Nami teasing me about looking like a robot." She pulled a silly face.

It was at that moment that my mouth decided to do something stupid without my brain's permission: speak.

"You don't need glowing clothes to shine."

My brain instantly came back from whatever holiday it had gone on and started screaming at my mouth. I suppressed the urge to slap my face repeatedly. I could practically _hear_ Roxas in my head going_ "OMG SORA! THAT IS SAH CUTE!"_

Kairi just grinned at me, ignorant of my plight.

"Thanks. That's really sweet."

I got on the lightcycler before I could do something even more stupid, like blush.

"Welcome to the Game Square," a loud voice boomed out of the speakers. "You have been selected to participate in a challenge. Lose, and you will suffer de-resolution. Win? Well, no one wins..." Booming laughter echoed throughout the arena. Kairi and I lined up with the other four contenders.

_3._

_2._

_1._

_COMMENCE._

Kairi and I zoomed along the track as large blocks appeared to cut us off (these were actually holograms, but our technology advanced so much that if our lightcyclers hit them, we would bounce back as if they really impacted). The aim of the game was to get to the finish line first before "dying" from excessive damage. We had "weapons" which could be used to knock other players off their lightcyclers, giving you a better chance of winning. It was a rather brutal game.

Within the first thirty seconds, Kairi had already knocked two college boys who were too busy staring at her butt and not paying enough attention to their surroundings. Idiots.

Kairi then turned on me. She attempted to slice my cycler in half, but I quickly parried her and sped up ahead. Through the corner of my eye, I could see her knock another player off – a blonde-haired girl who instantly started bawling her eyes out.

The finish line was now in sight and there was only me, Kairi, and another girl who was a few metres ahead of me.

Not wasting any time, I kicked my cycler forward – letting it speed in front of me – jumped the girl, and successfully kicked her off the cycler. I started speeding towards the end.

I vaguely heard clapping and looked behind to see Kairi giving me a thumbs up.

I rolled my eyes at her and continued towards the finish line.

_10 metres._

_8 metres._

_6 metres._

_4 metres._

_3 metres._

_2 metres_

Suddenly my lightcycler came to a stop. I looked back to see Kairi pull her blade out of the side of my cycler, wink at me, and shove me away. I was spinning around so bad I almost missed her crossing the finish line and giving me another poking her tongue out at me.

* * *

><p>Kairi was smirking at me as we started heading to the entrance. She kept fondling the pictures she had from the lightcycling race, two pictures of her knocking away three of the other contenders, and one of her pushing me away. She had just pulled out her blade from my cycler, her trademark smirk on her face. I had started to spin, my mouth unattractively open, and my eyes wide. The camera could still pick me out perfectly, even though the picture should've been blurry.<p>

Despite the fact that I'd been humiliated – twice – the day wasn't turning out to be too bad. I'd let Roxas live another year – until Kairi pulled me into a dingy old corner stall with a grimy sign that read:

_**Cait Sith – Renowned Fortune Teller. Pairs only.**_

I groaned and my face turned stormy.

"C'mon Sora! This'll be fun!" Kairi said, tugging on my arm.

"You go ahead, I'll wait here."

"It doesn't work that way!" she whispered loudly, a pout forming on her face. "Can't you read? _Pairs _only! I can't go alone!"

"But we aren't a _pair_!" I said, my own voice a harsh whisper.

She gave me a strange look. "Sora," she began slowly, "When two people are going around together they are considered a pair. I'm not asking you to pretend to be my boyfriend or anything!"

And with that she pulled me into the grimy stall.

_Someone_ was seated behind a table; their face covered in shadow, and in front of them was a small, glowing Cait Sith statuette, the only source of light in the dark hut. Cait Sith was a black cat with a white belly, an old Scottish mythological being. It was said to be able to predict the future, destroy the world, and all that exciting stuff.

"Welcome children!" a womanly voice greeted excitedly. "Please come and take a seat!"

Kairi bounded over and plonked herself down on the moth-eaten couch, pushing me down beside her.

"Well, aren't _you_ the sweetest couple I've seen in a while!" the woman gushed.

"We aren't a couple," I said shortly.

"Well that's a shame." She suddenly cried out, "Oh!"

Kairi leant forward, "What's wrong?"

"I realized I haven't even introduced myself yet! How rude of me."

I tried not to roll my eyes and scoff.

"I am Jenova. But please, call me Mother. I am one of the seven sisters of Cait Sith, as you should well know as the Scottish cat of time. I can assure you, I am no fraud. But I can also assure you that knowing your future can be extremely dangerous, and have _serious_ repercussions."

I let out a loud scoff.

"Now," she continued. "Who would like to have their fortune told?" she asked brightly.

Kairi bounced up and down like a child, "Me! Me!" she cried out.

Jeno- Sorry, _Mother_ said with a fond voice, "Look straight at me, child." Like we could actually see her.

Mother's hands were in long white gloves, stretching out from the darkness, and were placed on top of Kairi's head. Kairi closed her eyes.

After about seven seconds, Mother's gloves started to _glow_ an eerie green colour. I was about to alert Kairi when Mother quickly removed her hands and asked Kairi to open her eyes.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

Kairi took some time to answer. "Calm. Some nice memories were coming up."

"Good, very good. Now, your future."

She placed her hands on the Cait Sith statue and murmured something unintelligible.

It flickered, and resumed glowing.

Mother then spoke as if she was in a trance:

"_You have come to reclaim something you once lost,_

_As only now you realize the cost._

_Nothing to lose and so much to gain,_

_Only two others know of your pain._

_What you must claim is getting further away from your grasp,_

_You should do everything you can to make it last._

_So close and yet so far,_

_You must make sure that nothing will mar_

_The emotions you will stir with your presence,_

_Filling the dark with your luminescence."_

Jenova gave a little cough and placed her hand over Kairi's – who appeared to be in shock.

"Right or wrong, dear?" she asked pleasantly.

"R-right," Kairi forced out. She gave me a shocked look.

"Excellent!" Mother cried, startling Kairi out of her stupor.

"Now for you my dear!" Her hands were on my forehead before I could protest.

Almost instantly my eyes drifted shut, and my vision went dark.

_It was a rainy day._

_Water was pouring down, drenching my face, clothes, everything._

_I couldn't care less._

_My ears recognized the sound of an ambulance and police sirens echoed around me._

_But I didn't react to them_

_The only thing that I could focus on was the mangled body in front of me._

_I was shaking, and tears mingled with the rainwater on my face._

_It was as if the sky was crying for her too._

I was jerked back into reality.

Kairi looked at me curiously, and I realized that my face probably looked horrified. I thought I blocked that memory. I didn't want to think anymore.

I couldn't even manage an uninterested look and focused on trying to calm my racing heart.

"Gonna spout out more poetry?" I asked the woman, making sure that boredom laced my words.

She didn't answer.

All she said when she went into her little trance, was–

"_Love."_

And you all know how I feel about _that_ particular word.

* * *

><p>"Love?" I scoffed at the old woman's antics. "Just a word used to describe the overdrive of lust, desire, and hormones. It doesn't really exist." Damn fortune tellers. I would NEVER succumb to love.<p>

Ever.

"Never, huh?" she spoke with a snarky tone.

I must've spoken out loud.

"Yes."

"Well you can't help what you feel."

"Yes, you can," I snapped. "That's the point of emotions. You control them."

_But __**she**__ didn't._

For a split-second, I saw her eyes flash, a bright and intense red.

She spoke in a dark hissing tone.

"Not always, dearest. Not always."

Kairi told me that she paid the woman after I stormed out.

* * *

><p>The sunshine was like a beautiful golden bath and warmed me up.<p>

"Man, I think I forgot what sunshine was when I was in there," I said, turning my face to the sun, a small smile playing on my lips.

Kairi giggled and tilted her face to the sky. She seemed to have forgotten whatever it was that bothered her inside.

We had finally exited the Gold Saucer (I made sure to get my keys back from the gatekeeper. He looked like the type to conveniently _forget_ about returning my keys)

"So!" Kairi spoke up cheerfully, "Where to next?"

We walked up to Cadbury.

"The Lookout," I said. "The best view of DI. A great spot for picnics, paintings, some idiots even do cliff diving."

"Cliff diving?" Kairi said interestedly. "Won't they get hurt?"

"Nah. That side of the island doesn't have rocky shores. Just pure clean beaches."

Kairi and I clambered onto Cadbury. It felt slightly less awkward, which was a welcome change.

"Let's go!" Kairi said excitedly.

And she wrapped her arms around me again.

_Just like __**she**__ had once before._

* * *

><p>Kairi and I had finally reached the Lookout. We were lucky; it was one of the rare days where no one else was around, and I could really appreciate the great view and comfort of the grassy hilltop park. Kairi laid herself down and stared at the ocean.<p>

"The water looks really clear. There's no one 'round," Kairi commented.

"Yeah," I said. "Most people leave the island in the summer break."

"Why would they do that?" Kairi turned to me, the sun hitting her hair at an angle that made it appear to burst into flame. It brought the purple out of her eyes. "I mean they–"

"–practically live on a tropical island?" I finished for her, smiling.

"Yeah." She grinned at me suddenly and widely. "You know that's the only time I've actually seen you smile all day?"

This automatically brought a frown to my face – which made her chuckle. It quickly died down though. Her face drooped.

"Why do you hate love so much?" she asked, curious.

I raised an eyebrow at the question.

"That's been eatin' you?" I asked. Kairi nodded furiously. "Like I said earlier, it's a waste of emotion. Not even an emotion, a pointless feeling of–"

"No." Kairi interrupted my mini-rant. "No. The real reason. What happened to make you hate it so much?"

I didn't say anything.

How could I tell her? She didn't even know me, or..._her_.

Rikku.

She was the reason.

Her long banana coloured hair, with various beads threaded through the few thin braids she had, those bright jade eyes that could read all my concealed emotions, her thin form, and the way she'd always pull me into a hug whether I wanted it or not…

Now that the memories were coming back, it was hard to stop them.

I remembered how whenever she came up here she would dance on the very edge of the cliff. I was always certain she would fall into the ocean below, but she never did. She'd laugh and laugh at my expression whenever I thought she had disappeared down there. Then she'd smile, put her arms around me and whisper in my ear, _"It'll take more n' that ta finish me off."_

Then we'd watch the sky, happy with everything.

She was probably the only thing that stopped me from falling into depression like Roxas.

But even the feeling of release she gave me was taken away.

I shut off the memories and realized that Kairi was staring at me expectantly.

"Does something have to _happen_ for me to hate love?"

Kairi looked at me thoughtfully.

I couldn't help wondering how this one girl could trigger all these memories and emotions that I've worked so hard to hide and keep locked up.

Maybe it was because she reminded me of her.

Then she did the last thing I expected.

She lifted up her white tank top and pulled it over her head.

The ground was suddenly right in front of my face; I had fallen off the park bench.

She still had on her purple skort (thank god) but was now just wearing a baby pink strapless bikini top. Just like _she _would dress.

I turned my face the other way, vaguely realizing that it was starting to heat up.

"W-what are you doing?" I whispered loudly, glancing at her through the corner of my eye.

Kairi gave me an odd look. "What do you think?"

I had the common sense not to answer.

"I'm gonna try cliff-diving. Duh," Kairi said.

Within the few seconds it took me to process that, Kairi had already made her way to the edge of the cliff.

"Wait–" I started, but Kairi just winked at me, and leapt off the side.

"Kairi!" I yelled, rushing towards the edge. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and panic was settling in.

I could hear her screaming as she hurtled towards the earth. She was clearly having a good time.

But that didn't convince me that she wasn't going to die.

I then did something Roxas would be proud of.

I jumped in after her.

* * *

><p>I'd like to say that falling towards the sea at high speeds was an amazing experience, but really, the only thing going through my mind was:<p>

_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHH!_

Kairi was only a few metres below me; she had her legs tucked in and her arms extended upwards. I vaguely heard her whooping.

Within a few precious seconds, I grabbed onto Kairi's hand. She didn't look surprised to see me and just grinned. She said something I couldn't make out, and before I could question her, we smacked against the water.

The impact numbed me for a few seconds – and then an uncomfortably tingly sensation wracked my body.

I turned my gaze to Kairi. Her hair was billowing around her face, making her look like some kind of angelic mermaid. Almost unearthly.

We floated up to the surface.

Kairi was gasping with a huge grin on her face. We were so close our noses were almost touching. Her twilight eyes looked so...big. And they were getting bigger and bigger...and I could feel her breath on my lips.

Then I realized what was going on.

"Uh, RACE YOU TO THE BEACH!" I yelled, startling her. I hurtled towards the shore as quickly as I could, trying not to notice the hard and fast beating of my heart, and the immaturity of my actions.

Things with Kairi weren't going to be as simple as I wanted.

But I kinda already figured that out.

-SELDOMLOVESIMPLELIFE-

Kairi and I were back on my motorcycle driving back home.

Since Kairi was living with Naminé, I headed to Nam's, who conveniently lived near us

Cloud, Naminé's father, was an ex-SOLDIER and one of the most highly paid because he didn't live onsite. As much as he liked to keep things simple, he also had to keep up his reputation as one of the most revered SOLDIERs Shinra has ever known. Now, he was happily settled on his delivery business, Strife Delivery Service.

Kairi and I walked up to the door in silence. She turned to me with a bright smile.

"I really had lots of fun today, Sora!" she chirruped. How she could be so cheerful was beyond me. "It was great."

I managed a smile.

"It was no problem, really."

"Not as bad as you thought it would be?" My head snapped up and I saw Kairi smirking at me.

I decided to play dumb.

"Whaddaya mean?"

Her smile got wider. "Roxas... He had some stuff to say."

_How much did that idiot tell her...?_

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Naturally."

"Well, I like hanging out with you. We should do it again sometime."

"Sure." I tried to sound as nonchalant as I could.

She waved to me as I rode the short distance back home.

After letting myself in, I realized that Roxas wasn't here yet. Thank god. Mum was somewhere out in the garden, and I went out to help her.

"How was your day, honey?" she asked me.

I knelt down beside her to help replant the lilies I had accidentally...destroyed.

"Eventful."

* * *

><p><strong>AN It's a crap ending I know :/**

**I'd just like to point out that I have never played a single Final Fantasy Game in my life; I started FF X-2 but kept failing XD**

**So apologies if my references are extremely off. I know Gold Saucer isn't really like that, but who gives?**

**But admittedly I liked the scene before the lightcycling race. Aw to Sora. :3**

**Yeah, I'm being depressing. But this is a depressingish fic so get used to it. Nyeah.**

**SORA, PREPARE FOR TORTUUUUURE.**

**Sora: D: NOOOOOOOO!**

**Versy: Aw, can it! You might get to make out with Kairi!**

**Sora: *blushes* Sh-shut up.**

***Kairi appears out of thin air***

**Kairi: Who's kissin' on who?**

**Versy: Well–**

**Sora: –NO ONE!**

**Lol. Will my weirdness ever cease? **_**No, every one of your strange behaviors will remain with you forever, and ever, and ever, and-**_

**OK. We get the point.**

**REVIEW. IT MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. *looks around shiftily***

**~Versy**

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><p>Word Count: 6,600. VAAAAAT? I AM PHENOMINIALL. I HAVE OFFICIALLY BROKEN MY RECORD. *dances*<p> 


	4. Dark Side

**A/N: …Ohio?**

***dodges various rotten fruits and shoes***

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I know I haven't updated in like…ages, BUT I WILL MAKE IT UP. I PROMISE. I plan on at least twelve chappies by the end of the year, cuz I am going to WRITE IT UP. PERIOD.**

**You might've seen this chapter come up and then disappear. Sorry about that :)**

**So without further ado, I present you this chappie. Enjoy! :D**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Dark Side<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh, wow, I never knew you liked poetry that much, Sora? Or is it just Kairi's poems?"<em>

* * *

><p>Sunday flew by without a hitch.<p>

Roxas wouldn't stop yammering about how Kairi thought that our..._date_ was fun, and that she couldn't wait to start school, and how awesome she heard our school was, and blah, blah, blah. I honestly couldn't care less, and I told him so.

Roxas and I spent the day inside the house packing our bags, buying general school supplies that we had forgotten to get during the holidays, and just generally lazing around.

Strangely though, Roxas seemed distracted, and every time I spoke to him, it looked like he was in the middle of deep thought. He kept staring into space with a dreamy expression, and was acting even more dopey than usual – which I didn't think was physically possible.

I couldn't be bothered to question him about it though. I had other stuff to concern myself with.

Namely Kairi...and school.

* * *

><p>The buzzing of my alarm clock roused me from a night of undisturbed sleep. It had been a while since I had a sleep so deep and peaceful. It left me calm and well-rested.<p>

Nights like these were rare gifts when I was younger.

But now, there was little worry about our family's…situation, and we had worked around Ven's hospitalization problems. There was still no sign of him waking up anytime soon.

I stretched out my arms and my gaze slid towards my alarm clock.

5:23am

I quickly slipped out of bed, gave Roxas an onceover (he was sprawled over his bed with his mouth wide open), and slipped into my jogging clothes and sneakers. I checked on Mom in the next room and hurried outside.

Jogging was one way for me to stay calm and collected – and it was definitely the best way to start the day. The soft sand of the beach muffled my thudding footsteps as I ran along the stretch of beach, parallel to the sea of blue oblivion. The sky was dark, but the horizon was tinted pink with the tell-tale sign of sunrise – a streak of light against a realm of darkness.

I continued running and let my mind wander.

Her long, long hair – the colour of sunflowers, with beads running through thin braids, sometimes tied up, sometimes left loose to billow in the wind.

Her golden satiny skin which glowed against the sun which encased her lithe figure as she darted and dodged my oncoming form; giggling with mirth as I chased her along this very strip of sand.

Her toffee-coloured lips set in an adorable pout when she didn't understand something, which always widened into a breathtaking smile whenever she finally got the answer.

And her beautiful eyes. A shade of jade that I didn't know was even possible in the world of human genetics that left me in awe-

_Bam!_ Deep green was replaced with purple-tinted blue, banana hair with burgundy, tan skin replaced with cream, toffee lips with peach pink. I stumbled and a mound of sand jumped into my mouth as I hit the ground hard.

A groan slipped though my lips, and I spit out a whole lot of wet grit. _What was wrong with me? _It was as if everything I struggled with was finally coming out. I couldn't allow this to happen. I couldn't risk the careful equilibrium I had created in my life after years of chaos. I couldn't let a girl wreck it. Not again, dammit.

I walked closer to the dark blue ocean, splashed some of the icy cold water onto my face, and swirled some in my mouth before spitting it out.

The sun was steadily rising above the ocean almost in sync with my rising temper.

_Why couldn't I get my head out of the clouds?_

* * *

><p>I got back home at around seven. Mom was already in the kitchen banging around pots and pans, making what smelt like...cheese and tomato melts. Yum.<p>

"Good run, dear?" she asked, as I wandered up the stairs to take my morning shower.

"Great." My usual standard reply. I never really had much to say. Mom said that when I was younger, it was hard to get me to _stop_ talking...but things changed, I guess. I had a family to help support; I didn't have time to waste on talking.

Anyways.

One of the awesome things about having hair as ridiculously spiky as mine was that it made it all too easy to dry. I'd scrub it through with _Spike and Shine: For those rebellious locks _(a product by Moogle, they make _everything_, I swear), give it a wipe with a towel, and shake my hair out to get rid of the remaining water and _Boom!_ _The water is gone!_

Just something to be happy about when it comes to my genetics.

Roxas was still sprawled on his twin bed and it was almost seven-thirty. I sighed, and stuffed an old sock that was lying around into his mouth. Almost instantly Roxas shot up, his eyes bugging as he gagged on the mouldy piece of tattered clothing.

"Get dressed and ready," I snapped at him. "You have half an hour!"

He let out a few curse words and glared at me. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't anything I hadn't seen before.

About twenty minutes later Roxas trudged downstairs. It was ridiculous how all he did was stand under the shower for thirty seconds, shove on his clothes, and then spend the remaining eighteen minutes checking himself out in the mirror and sleeping some more – or finishing off late homework.

What was_ really_ ridiculous was how the majority of the female population at our school swooned whenever Roxas walked down the hallway. His hair, unlike mine, had more of a sense of direction, whereas mine was just a jungle of spikes. With his bedhead and askew uniform, hoards of girls trailed after us between classes, which made both Naminé and I pretty darn irritated.

Roxas quickly grabbed a steaming piece of bread off the counter and bit into it. Our favourite breakfast was definitely cheese and tomato melts. It was basically sliced baguette, with a small mound of cheese and tomato dumped on it. Mother generally added some herbs like basil on top of it to boost the taste, then it was shoved into the oven (or the microwave, whenever Roxas and I got lazy), and voila! Delicious cheesy tomato goodness.

After scrubbing out my teeth with _Kupogate_ (another product by Moogle) and checking over my uniform, I was ready to go.

The uniform at D.I. High was fairly basic. Both boys and girls wore a simple white tee with a sky blue tie with dark blue tartan lines, and navy blue socks with black leather shoes. The girls wore a skirt the same style as the tie, and the boys just wore dark khaki trousers.

Roxas and I were bombarded by many people wearing said uniforms as we walked through the gate of D.I. High for the first time in eight weeks. Many people were embracing each other as if they hadn't seen each other in years, as opposed to two short months.

A few seconds barely passed since we entered the grounds and already we were swept up by the excited crowd of teenagers.

Roxas and I were ready to fight our way out, but a pair of strong arms grabbed our collars and yanked us out of the hormonal mob of adolescents. We whirled around and came face-to-face with a tall and imposing teen.

"I don't need you guys getting beaten black and blue on the first day back," he said, laughing.

"Riku, my man!" Roxas cried out, excitedly fist bumping the older teen. Riku chuckled deeply.

"Roxas, bud. And Sora, how's that pretty little redhead you've been running around with?" Riku asked, smirking slightly.

"Fine," I replied tightly. I didn't need to make a scene on the first day.

Riku looked at me thoughtfully. "Naminé's looking for you, Rox. She said to meet her in the Art room." He said it without glancing at him. Roxas glanced between Riku and I and left, whistling a meaningless tune.

Riku and I started walking towards the large tables with letters from A all through to Z. I lined up behind the line of F last names.

"So tell me, Sora. How _is_ Kairi?" There was evident humour in his tone.

"Fine. She seems alright," I said quietly.

Riku ran a hand through his long silver hair.

"Look," he said exasperatedly. "You can't let what happened in the past bring you down. You've gotta move on, man."

I raised an eyebrow. "Thank you, guru Riku. But you know as well as I do that I am completely fine. I have more important things to concern myself with."

Riku sighed. "You've changed, man. You've changed."

"We all do."

* * *

><p>Schooling here was probably very different to other worlds.<p>

Elementary to middle schoolers were required to do at least one hour of vigorous sports each day, with a choice of basketball, soccer, blitz ball, swimming, diving, mixed martial arts/weapons training, track/cross-country, dance, and gymnastics. There were many other sports available, but these were the school-enforced forms of athleticism, as well as the most popular sporting activities taken.

When high school was reached, the student had to participate in an extra hour of athletic training of two of the said sports. The maximum amount of hours one could take was four (excluding after school hours), and the student had to average at least a B in school in order to do extra hours, due to the worldly school curriculum.

There was also a variety of extra curricular activities allowed, as the DIVINE - Destiny Islands' Very Important Nummary Executives (thirteen members who had contributed to our society and were well respected) - believed that our islands needed to focus on other talents besides physical activity.

We offered an array of such activities, such as extra art (which is simply different forms of art e.g. painting, sculpting, photography), writing classes, music classes (a wide selection of instruments, as well as theory e.g. guitar, voice, drums, clarinet), drama (we had many reality T.V. shows, with famous actors and actresses residing here), extra languages (it was compulsory to take at least one language in normal classes - to improve tourism from other countries; it helps to be multi-linguistic, but other language available were Spanish, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Italian etc.), aerobics, and extra sport and dance choices. It was also compulsory to take one term of ballroom dance.

After a long and dragged out assembly, we were finally given our homeroom classes.

KH24, KH25, KH26, and finally! KH27. I burst into the room, and as soon as I did, I wanted to run straight back out again.

_Of course I was in her class. Karma's a bitch, no?_

"Oh, hello Sora!" Kairi said, a smile gracing her face.

The blank-faced students of the class looked surprised and glanced back and forth between us.

"Hi…Kairi."

She patted the seat beside her but I pretended not to notice, and grabbed my timetable from the empty teacher's desk (teachers ditching on the first day? How unprofessional), and slunk to the back of the classroom where Tidus and Wakka were engrossed in a game of "Heartless, Nobody, Unversed," a popular game which involved people flopping their hands about and chanting, "Heartless, Nobody, _Unversed!"_ followed by a hand gesture (a heart for Heartless, an 'X' for Unversed and a spade shape for Nobody). Nobodies beat out Heartless, Heartless defeat Unversed, and Unversed pwn Nobodies.

Wakka appeared to be winning by about fifty games until Tidus stuck out three fingers and stretched out his arm.

"What is that, mon?" Wakka said, his Rastafarian accent still as thick as it was two years ago.

"A Keyblade. Duh," Tidus said with a smug smile.

Wakka rolled his eyes at me and said, "What you spend the break doing, brudda?"

I shrugged. "Work. Goin' round here and there, nothin' much."

They nodded. I turned to face the board and watched for any sign of our late teacher. Wakka and Tidus appeared to be elbowing each other. They were still watching me.

I turned back to them and raised an eyebrow.

Tidus cleared his throat. "Um, well, you see…"

Wakka cut in, rushing his words. "We heard you got yourself a girl, mon!"

I inhaled sharply, and then said as calmly as I could, "Who told you that?"

"It's all over Synthesize," Tidus remarked, scratching at his ear.

I groaned and tugged at my spikes in irritation. Synthesize was pretty much the biggest social network in the worlds. Some schmuck in Twilight Town University created it, and it was followed by a huge legal debate and suing shenanigans that occurred a few years ago. Almost every citizen in Destiny Islands who was able to use a computer had an account. Roxas made me get an account for "emergency purposes." Personally, using technology in general got me frustrated, I mean, what happened to writing things down and sending letters? Seriously.

I took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow at Tidus and Wakka.

"I did not go on a _date_; I just gave someone a tour of DI."

Wakka grinned creepily, "That's like the same thing, mon!"

I groaned and buried my head in my hands; I honestly wondered why I bothered making friends.

_Maybe because even you can't be alone forever._

* * *

><p>Apparently me going on a da- I mean, being out with a girl that wasn't a friend was the first addition to the rumour mill the second school started. I was already sick of Riku and Roxas talking to me about it, but <em>this?!<em> If I got one munny for every time someone asked me-

"So who is this girl you are going out with?" a voice from behind called out, interrupting my thoughts. I whirled around, ready to spew out all the annoyance I had experienced from travelling between classes – and even _in_ classes – about the "red-headed wonder" I was apparently with, when a soft giggle pierced the air. I sighed inaudibly and turned to face her.

Naminé smiled at me and turned her head to the side.

"Roxas is out by the Old Oak," I said, smiling slightly.

"I know. I wanted to talk to you," she said. I felt slightly disconcerted.

"About…?"

"Kairi."

I groaned, and folded my arms. "All those rumours are fake, y'know."

She giggled. "I know, Kairi told me about how it went on your little…outing."

I smiled slightly when she didn't mention the dreaded word. "And?"

"What?"

"How did she find it?" I asked, in spite of myself.

"She thought you were a gentleman, and had a great time."

I felt my cheeks get hot and fought to keep my face impassive. "Good. I guess."

She smiled sadly at me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"I want you to be happy, Sora," she said, "I don't want to see you hurt anymore. I know you feel bad about…what happened, but the past is the past. Don't let it change you, don't."

My chest tightened and I clenched my fist, my eyes trained firmly on the floor.

"It already has."

I moved towards the Old Oak where Riku and Roxas generally ate our lunch. Naminé held my wrist and stopped me from going further.

"No Sora. The old you is still there. I know it is."

I stuck my tongue out at her and she chuckled.

"I guess _some_ things never change," she giggled into her hand as we headed out.

Riku and Roxas were deeply engaged in slapping each other and were basically in the middle of an all out war.

"Careful, Riku!" Naminé called, "You don't want to get your hair dirty!"

Riku glanced up, distracted, and Roxas instantly slammed his butt into the older teen's stomach.

"I am _victorious_!" Roxas cried out, and lifted his fists to the sky. Naminé leant over to kiss his cheek and I rolled my eyes.

"Only because your girlfriend saved you." Riku scowled. "Otherwise, you'd be dead meat."

Roxas pulled a face at him, glanced into his paper bag, and looked hopefully at mine, "What did mom pack ya?"

I pulled out an apple and a banana. "The usual garden products."

Roxas sighed sadly and bit half-heartedly into his red apple. "I don't get how in the worlds you prefer those 'granny smith' apples," he said with a smirk.

"It's better than eating something called a 'pink lady'," I deadpanned, and Riku laughed.

The four of us made our way to the large picnic table under the Old Oak tree. As we settled down to eat, three people approached us.

"Hey guys," a familiar boyish voice greeted us.

I glanced up and found myself looking at Hayner, Pence, and Olette, three old friends from Twilight Town.

"Hayner!" cried Roxas, and they bumped their arms and fists in this weird signature way they did. I never really got it.

After exchanging hellos, the trio seated themselves beside Roxas and I. Hayner was a fairly lean guy, the same height as us, with light skin, chocolate eyes, and blonde hair that was styled up and away from his face, which almost always held a cocky expression. Roxas and Hayner were enthusing about the upcoming struggle tournament, which they always entered.

Pence, was a fairly chubby guy who wore a sweatband over his forehead that stopped his messy black hair from getting in the way. Why he wore it was a mystery since the guy avoided playing sports with a passion. He absolutely loved photography and riddles, and lived for it. His pictures won tonnes of awards here in school and even in some actual Island competitions.

The final member of the trio was the lovely Olette. Believe me when I say that looks could be deceiving. With her braided brown hair, forest green eyes, and sweet smile, she may look like the laid back Islander, but no – she was the queen of homework and it was all _study, study, study_ with her. It was strange how she and Hayner were such good friends since they were_ complete_ opposites. Hayner believed he'd be a millionaire by becoming a professional struggle player and "beating all the top guys!" and Olette believed she'd be the worlds' foremost authority on the study of psychology...or something like that. The three of them grew up in Twilight Town, and were great friends of Roxas before he fell into a weird psyched up depression.

"Did you know we're getting twelve assignments this semester? Five this term and seven next term. Talk about a _nightmare_!" Olette groaned, as she chewed her muesli bar with gusto.

Hayner reclined back and grinned lazily, "Well it's lucky I got you," he said, "You're there to do it all for me!"

Olette glared at him and shoved him off the bench. Hayner let out a very unmanly shriek and landed on the grass with a _thump._ Rubbing his backside and with a small smirk, he came up behind Olette and started tickling her, causing her to laugh and flop her limbs about. The rest of the group started laughing while Pence and Naminé shared a knowing smile. Ugh. They seriously wanted everybody in school to be in a rela-

"Aw, how cute," someone beside me said, giggling. I spun around and Kairi was sitting beside me, quietly munching a carrot and observing Hayner and Olette's tickle war.

"When did you get here?" I asked, surprised.

"About three minutes ago, I think," she said, nonchalantly nodding her head.

Her tie was loose around her neck and she had rolled up the sleeves of her white tee so that they exposed part of her cream coloured shoulders. I vividly remembered what she looked like with her entire top off and inwardly slapped myself.

"Kairi!" Naminé called, smiling. Kairi grinned back at her and I noticed Riku looking her up and down.

_Here we go._

"Kairi..." he said, a smirk forming on his face, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Nam and Sora have told me a lot about you."

I rolled my eyes at him and scoffed.

"Oh, really?" she said, confused. "They never really mentioned you, uh, what's your name?" she continued awkwardly.

Riku just laughed and said, "I figured as much. It's Riku."

Kairi smiled and shook his hand.

That was it? No subtle flirting, no winks, no kissing of the hand? Riku was up to something...

"So how _was_ your date with Sora?" Riku asked slyly.

And there it was. Straight to the point.

Kairi smiled slightly. "It was a fun little outing! You should've seen him on the rides!" she giggled, and thankfully she didn't add my, er, discomfort on said rides. "We went to the Lookout, I think it was called. Absolutely amazing. I've never seen a more beautiful sight." She sighed slightly.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, it was nice."

The entire table looked at me like I was nuts. Roxas started grinning and Naminé looked pleased. I mean, true I hadn't been to Lookout in a while, but that wasn't important!

The bell rang loudly, saving me from any more awkwardness. Riku gave me a smile which clearly said, _we'll talk more later._

I sighed before making my way to class.

* * *

><p>"Sora, wait up!" I turned and saw Kairi running up to me, English textbook in hand. "Mind if I tag along?" she asked.<p>

"You have Auron?" I asked.

"Yup!" she said with a smile. I looked away.

We continued to walk in silence. It was awkward, to say the least. She seemed to be struggling to find something to say with the way she kept glancing around at everything but me, while I drudged on uncomfortably, wishing that Auron's classroom wasn't so damn far.

"I wanted to ask you something," Kairi spoke up.

"Yes?"

"You don't like me very much, do you?"

This caused me to halt in my tracks. I turned to her, eyebrows raised.

She lifted her head to look straight in my eyes with an air of defiance.

"What gives you that impression?" I asked. I mean, I didn't outwardly express dislike to her or anything. I didn't hate her at all; I just hated how everyone wanted us...to be together, and assumed that we were. I only knew her for a day!

"Well, you look at me like this," she said, furrowing her eyebrows down low and twisting her mouth into a grimace, as if she was disgusted. It looked so ridiculous I almost burst out laughing.

"So you're saying I look like some sorta weirdo whenever you're around," I said with amusement, looking away from her pouting features.

"Well you don't look particularly happy to see me. I'm not saying you have to _like_ me, just..."

I look at her expectantly, smirking slightly. I personally didn't really know why I found her funny; she just looked so hilarious every time she squirmed trying to find something to say.

"Just what?" I said, full-on grinning at her.

She huffed and started stalking off.

I chuckled and without any warning my hand just decided to latch onto her wrist, as if to steer her back to me. My eyes widened and watched helplessly as she turned around slowly and looked at my hand wrapped gingerly around her dainty wrist. Her eyes travelled up and met my gaze.

Time stopped.

I never believed that you could really lose yourself in someone's gaze, but honestly, staring into Kairi's unearthly twilight eyes made me want to pitch myself off Twilight Town's famous clock tower. I felt so...weak, yet powerful, which was just downright weird.

I know I'm not making any sense. Looking back, I don't think I could really make sense of anything I felt from that moment on. Everything just felt hazy and strange, but what I couldn't see then made sense now.

I must've finally come to my senses or something, because I finally stepped back and dropped her wrist.

"Wrong way," I said, looking at everything _but_ Kairi. In the loud bustling of the hallway, it was surprising that Kairi could hear my whispering voice.

"O-oh," she said, colour flooding her cheeks. I found that strangely endearing.

We walked to Auron's class in complete silence, I felt like saying something, _something_ to make her not feel that I'm some creep, which was stupid because I didn't care what she thought of me.

I seriously didn't.

Eventually we had made it to our classroom and headed in. We were still surprisingly a few minutes early to class, and I took my usual seat to the back of the room – where Hayner sat, a cocky smile on his face.

"You took your sweet time. Playin' hooky with Kairi, huh?" he asked, giving a pointed glance to said girl, who was already chatting happily with Selphie, gossip queen extraordinaire. Don't get me wrong, she was a nice girl, but if I heard her talk about how absolutely amazing so and so's relationship was, and that I needed to stop being _silly_ and get with someone, I was going to throttle her with her skipping rope.

Kairi seemed to be explaining something to Selphie with big hand gestures, and Selphie just nodded along happily with her 60's curled brown hair bouncing excitedly and her green eyes twinkling. Then the two of them would burst into giggles. As girls do.

"Enjoying the view?" Hayner asked. The smug tone was so clear in his voice, it took half my strength to stop me from pulling my hair out. Damn me for zoning out!

Before I could reply with some witty, scathing remark as I usually do, our teacher, Auron, entered.

He was wearing his usual long crimson cloak, with his left arm folded in, old sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, and belts everywhere. With his dark greying hair and his intense _I've-seen-more-than-you'll-ever-know_ eyes, he looked out of place in a high-school classroom.

"Silence," he said sternly. And that was all it took for everyone to shut their mouths.

He proceeded to call out names and I quickly scanned the class to see if anyone else I knew was there. Sadly, I only had Hayner for company.

Auron then went to the large whiteboard at the front and wrote in big bold letters:

**POETRY.**

It took all I had to stop myself from groaning.

Give me reports, essays, letters, heck _even narratives_ and I can produce a worthy piece.

But poems? Hell no.

Limericks, haikus, rhyming couplets were the _bane of my existence_. I hate them with a burning passion. Maybe not as much as I hate the_ other _dreaded word. Last year we touched on the subject, and believe me, it resulted in horrible pieces which went something like this:

_So bored and I can't sleep,_

_I just want to go for a ride in my jeep._

_But I lost my keys and want to cry,_

_Will you sing me a lullaby?_

I wasn't even joking.

"Welcome to English. For those of you who don't know me, I am Auron. You may call me..." He looked at us dryly. "...Auron."

The class silently watched him.

"Our topic for this term, as you can see, is _poetry_."

I felt myself shudder.

"And because this is our first lesson, you have free range to write a poem on something that you are passionate about, or significant to you. It could be about your morals. Your neighbour's dog. Anything that's important to you. I want to see where you're at in poetry, so I know how fast I can speed this class along.

You have about thirty minutes, and we'll listen to anyone who's willing to share their poem to the class. Get going."

I twirled the pen in my hand and stared hard at the taunting blue lined paper.

Something I am passionate about? Well let's see...

**How much I hate poetry**_ by Sora Fair_

_Poems suck._

_And I have no luck._

_Poetry is just a pain,_

_I feel like I have half a brain._

_Rhymes don't make sense,_

_They make me feel quite dense._

_I think poetry should go through abolishment,_

_Because what the heck is an "enjambment"?_

_And I know that last part didn't really rhyme,_

_But that's not really a crime._

_And frankly I don't care,_

_If I did, I wouldn't be Sora Fair._

Hey, that wasn't that bad! Well, at least compared to what I usually write. Frankly, I thought it was pretty good by Sora standards.

The clock showed that there was about five minutes left, and I could see Hayner scrawling through his own piece. The word "_ice-cream_" came up a lot.

Selphie kept giggling over her obvious romantic ballad and Kairi was intensely writing her own piece, barely looking up, with her crimson hair brushing the paper.

"You're time's up. Finish your sentence or whatever you're up to," Auron's voice called out. "Who wants to read out their poem?"

At first, no one's hand came up. Then a single hand, with carefully manicured fingernails, rose.

"I'll go," Kairi's voice said confidently.

"And you are?" Auron asked curiously, peering over his glasses.

"Kairi Leonhart."

Whispers broke out among the class as people looked between Kairi and I. Rumours spread so fast these days; it was just plain irritating.

Auron nodded. "Come up to the front."

The class watched silently as Kairi stepped up to the front. If she was intimidated by the students, she didn't show it.

She cleared her throat.

"Light.

So bright and so strong

Full of hope, full of song,

So beautiful and so true

Full of mirth and full of you.

You're light shone brighter than the most radiant star,

And was so blinding even from afar.

It made the darkest hearts turn around

To see the face that never knew a frown.

But the hope and love has turned dim,

And the blissful grin just went grim.

I barely knew what the face looked like

Before its dark turn into spite.

Only in stories I was told of a better age,

Where there were more laughs and much less...rage.

I speak to you today to tell this story,

Of a light so bright, now gone gory.

And if you know another with a similar tale.

I urge you to speak up, lift the veil

Of darkness, anger and hate.

Save them, before it is too late."

The entire class was still and silent.

No one moved or said a word. Everyone just stared at Kairi in shock and awe as she looked at the class; her expression unreadable.

Then her eyes met mine. _Aw hell._

Was her poem about–

Hands started clapping, and soon enough, the entire class burst into applause. Auron quieted down the class.

"Well Kairi, that was very commendable. You have great skill in poetry." Auron had a slight twinkle in his eye. She was instantly a favourite.

"Thank you, sir," Kairi said, smiling charismatically. She made her way back to her seat, where Selphie was bouncing up and down.

"That was incredible, Kairi!" Selphie said excitedly. Kairi smiled meekly and thanked her.

I stared at the back of her head, still shocked.

_Who was she writing about?_

_Did she know about–?_

_No. That's impossible._

I sighed, and turned to the front, ready to zone out the rest of English.

* * *

><p>"Nice poem," I told Kairi cautiously after class finished. I was still unsure of her piece, it felt like she was talking directly to me – as self-centred as that sounded.<p>

She flipped back her hair. "Thanks," she said with an easy smile. "Poetry is like my drive. I absolutely adore it."

_Okay, right now we are scoring zero on the similarities chart._

"Not really my thing," I said, running a hand through my spikes, "I kinda suck at them."

"I'm sure that's not true," she said, grinning at me.

"You would be surprised."

She continued smiling sunnily and skipped down the shiny corridor.

How a person could be so ridiculously cheery was beyond me.

Soon enough, we arrived at the gym. It was a large building, with a huge indoor basketball court on one side, and a boxing ring on the other. Along the right wall was a set of huge bleachers and along the far left were the change rooms. The floor was so glossy; you could see your own reflection in it. A few members of the class were already loitering around the bleachers, so I hurried over to the change rooms without looking back at Kairi.

The locker room had been scrubbed out compared to when I saw it last, and it gleamed. Various guys clad in towels and shirts loitered around, shoving each other or hiding in corners; hoping not to be teased by other guys about their...size.

I was in the middle of changing my shirt when Seifer Almasy came up to me, smirking cockily.

I suppressed a sigh.

Seifer was, and probably always will be, Roxas and Hayner's worst enemy. They _hated_ each other, and they were always trying to outdo the other. I personally had no anger toward him, but because I was related to Roxas and "looked like I wanted to pick a fight," he made it his goal to irritate me to no end.

I turned towards him. "What is it, Almasy?"

"I heard you were gettin' it on with some new chick." His voice was so cocky I had to hold my hand down to stop from punching him.

"I am not 'getting it on' with anyone. Why don't you just go hide out with the rest of your posse?"

"All I'm saying is...it would be a shame if something happened to her like your old girlfriend. What was her name...?"

Oh, he was asking for it. My fists clenched and my anger rose.

"Shut up, Seifer." My voice took on a dangerous tone. "If you know what's good for you..._piss off_."

Seifer seemed to get the message and left, still smirking.

Shaking off my dark thoughts, I made my way up to the bleachers, where most of the sports-uniform clad students sat about, conversing. The uniform for sports was a simple pair of shorts and a sky coloured shirt with the DI High insignia on the left side. Girls had the option of sports bras, but guys couldn't run around shirtless. Go figure.

Kairi was already sitting on the bleachers, gawking at the state-of-the-art equipment and various paraphernalia. She waved me over, still wide-eyed at the gym.

"Impressed?" I asked, smirking slightly at her flabbergasted expression.

"Hell yeah! This stuff is incredible! The gym at my school in Garden was like some kinda sweatshop compared to this!"

Hm, interesting. Radiant Garden was known for its hi-tech equipment and gadgets, but after the war and its temporary relapse into _Hollow Bastion_, Garden wound up very backwards. It was on its way, but Twilight Town and Traverse Town were currently at the top of the list in high quality thingamajigs.

I shrugged, "Well you'll certainly be sweating here. Our trainers are ruthless."

As if on cue, our new PE teacher bounded towards us. And I mean _bounded_. After finishing a cartwheel, she flipped into the air and landed right in front of us.

"Good afternoon, class!" she called excitedly, "I'm your sports teacher for this year, Miss Yuffie Kisaragi! You can call me Yuffie. Gather round, gather round!" Her bubbly voice filled the gym and the students congregated at the front of the bleachers. She leant back and surveyed us all, her hands on her exposed waist. She wore very short shorts, and a bright green and yellow singlet. Her hair was cut short and her dark eyes twinkled.

After quickly calling roll, she grinned at us.

"Right now, this term, we are going to be focusing on athletics, gymnastics and swimming – because we have to start with the easy stuff. Next term is dance, then we have (my personal favourite) weapons training/hand-to-hand combat and _finally_ blitzball!"

She said all of this so fast that it took me a while to compute.

Kairi raised her hand. "Excuse me...Yuffie?"

Said teacher was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Yes?"

"Um...I just came here from Radiant Garden and, well, isn't the sports worldly curriculum just for athletics, gymnastics, swimming, with the option of blitzball?"

Some people snickered while others smiled into their hands.

"Nope!" she said, "Here on DI we like to incorporate as many physical activities as we can, so we can give our kids tonnes of exercise and skills. It's particularly important for tourism," she added sagely.

"O-oh," Kairi said, still looking confused.

"Anymore questions? No? Okay, let's get started! 20 warm-up laps around the gym. You gotta jump over all the hurdles, climb over the boxes, dodge all of the swinging punching bags, and use the ropes to swing across all the foam pits, got it? Get cracking!"

After some initial groans and mumbling, the class started running at a leisurely pace around the gym until Yuffie started throwing blunted shurikens at the lazy runners while yelling, "Hurry up, slowpokes!" _That _sped everyone up.

Kairi was panting beside me. "Is she even allowed to do that?"

"Yup. As long as they don't injure us or anything, then they are allowed to."

"_Why?_"

I shrugged. "Discipline?"

"Less talking, more _moving_!" Kairi and I winced as the shurikens just missed us by a hair's breadth.

"This is the weirdest school, _ever_," Kairi said as we dodged swinging sandbags. She was doing pretty well for a non-islander and moved with a certain sort of grace. It was pretty impressive.

"That's one way to describe it," I said wryly. "You'll get used to it."

We made it to the foam-filled pits.

"Is this even legal? How do people not accidentally fall into these?" she asked, her voice nearing hysteria.

"Well, the floorboards are activated with a system control. There's a control box with every sports teacher," I said during swings. "And they can select different levels of obstacle courses or various activities. The floorboards or walls slide out to expose whatever is needed for the lesson. Like the swinging punching bags that are stored in the wall."

She nodded, and soon enough we fell into comfortable silence. Well, as comfortable as it could get when you were jumping over hurdles, dodging killer sandbags, and swinging from ropes like Tarzan.

Soon enough, we had finished and sat by Yuffie. Well, I sat, Kairi collapsed.

"What do they do to you in Radiant Garden?" Yuffie wondered aloud. "Not enough physical activity."

"Garden is more focused on academia: English, writing, stuff like that," Kairi mumbled.

Yuffie tutted. "That's a shame."

Eventually, the rest of the class gathered by Yuffie; very few were panting or looking out of breath.

"Warm? Great! Now we're going to spend the rest of the day doing core work. It's the first day; I don't wanna puff ya out!"

Kairi, who looked like she was almost able to stand, groaned and hit the floor again.

* * *

><p>"That...was <em>horrible<em>!" she cried, rubbing her stomach and arms. "I've never been in that much pain, ever!"

I snickered, "It'll hurt more tomorrow."

Her face looked like she sucked a lemon. "Thaaaanks, I really needed that."

I shrugged. "Just being honest."

We were walking back out to the Old Oak where the rest of the group was sitting and conversing. Kairi flopped down beside Naminé.

"Rough day?" Naminé asked, smiling.

"Yeah!" Kairi said, pouting. "I used to be _good_ at sports! How do you manage it?"

Naminé giggled, "I get excused out of it because of my asthma, silly! I make up for it with my extra art classes."

Kairi grumbled. "Lucky." Naminé just continued giggling.

Roxas sauntered over and sat on the other side of Naminé.

"I got maths homework from Sazh on the first day! Can you believe it?" he moaned. He leant over and kissed Naminé's cheek. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "Did you get anything?" Roxas asked Hayner, who was stuffing his face with egg sandwich.

"Nah. Auron might've but he was too impressed by Kairi's poem," Hayner said with relish.

"Oh, really? It must've been great! Auron's pretty hard to please," Roxas said with a small grin.

Kairi blushed and looked at her hands. "Not really..."

I rolled my eyes. Humbleness was so overrated sometimes. She _knew_ how good it was. "She's being modest. It was a great piece. Real powerful."

The bumbling chatter that was going around the table silenced and everyone stared at me. Roxas' lips curved upwards and I knew what was coming for me.

"Oh? Was it...special?"

That was it? That was all? I almost laughed out loud with relief.

"Yeah, it was! It was really nice, all about light and stuff. Frankly, I thought it was pretty incredible and I think she's really gifted. It's a real unique talent and..."

_Damn you Roxas! _

"Oh, wow, I never knew you liked poetry that much, Sora? Or is it just Kairi's poems?" Roxas' voice was teasing and light; the exact opposite to what I was feeling.

Kairi's face was now beet red, and she looked _really_ embarrassed. Riku winked at me from across the table and Hayner smirked.

Roxas was _way_ more sly than I gave him credit for.

The rest of lunch passed with Kairi and I avoiding each other's gaze.

* * *

><p>Spanish passed like torture. Our teacher still wasn't back from her holiday in The Land of Departure so we had a substitute who knew all about nothing and nothing about Spanish. I felt like I lost some precious brain cells I couldn't afford to lose. Roxas and I spent the lesson dodging spit balls from Seifer, who was being held back in a couple of subjects.<p>

After we got released from the end of class, we walked up front and met up with Naminé and Kairi, who just had French. Riku had left, because he had important dinner with his family that couldn't be skipped. Hayner, Pence, and Olette lived on the other side of town so they generally didn't hang out with us after school.

Roxas and Naminé were in the front and discussing the new teachers and workload, while Kairi and I silently walked alongside each other behind them. I snuck a couple of glances at her, but she was pointedly looking at something in the sky. The awkwardness was mutual; and I didn't even know _what_ made it so awkward.

Eventually, we made it to Naminé's house. It was on top of a hill so they had very few neighbours. It was a large two-storey brick house with a winding path at the front. The roof was bright red and the relatively small garden was filled with white roses; Naminé's favourite flower. It had a nice white porch, with a rocking chair at the front and a view of the ocean.

The blonde couple let themselves in and I was just about to follow them when I felt a grip on my arm stop me.

"Sora, wait."

I turned to face Kairi, "Yeah?"

She sighed, and flicked some of her cranberry tresses out of her face. The afternoon glow of the sun made her face look even more radiant than usual.

"I know things have been weird. With everyone thinking we're, y'know, going out." She blushed at the last statement and my face didn't seem that cool either. "But I just wanted to say that...well, I want us to be friends. I know you've had some trouble with girls in the past, and I wanted to tell you that I'm not going to...going to use you or do anything horrible to you. I just wanna be your friend. Okay?"

I looked at her. I mean, _really_ looked at her. Her voice was sincere and it showed on her face. She really didn't want things between us to be awkward, or have our..._acquaintanceship _to be weird. She was genuine. And that, for some reason, made me feel really _good_ inside.

"Friends?" she asked, her hand outstretched, a smile gracing her face.

I smiled back at her. She was different alright.

"Friends."

Little did I know, that by taking her hand that day, I had _no_ idea what I was in for.

* * *

><p><strong>In the next instalments…<strong>

"_The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"_

"_You were ARRESTED–"_

"_AH! My virgin eyes!"_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: HOLY RAINBOW FISH BUCKETS FULL OF CINNAMON CHOWDER.**

**Seven thousand three hundred and ninety-five words. Yeesh.**

**Axel's coming. ;)**

**I would go on a huge rant right now about random shiz, but honestly I'm ranted out. I'll leave you with this update, and I will update as soon as I can. DEFINITELY.**

**A **_**BIG**_** thank you to Jomatto for beta-reading this chappie, and sadly it'll be the last time he does so. Thanks so much for being so supportive and awesome! :D**

**Review = love. If I don't get dear comments, why would I write? :)**

**See you soon!**

**~Versy**


	5. Everything About You

**A/N: Ugh. I'm really thinking of editing my first chapter. Not major changes, but making it actually GOOD. Any objections?**

**Well, ahem, this is the fifth chappie. It****'s alright I guess, not one of my favorites but meh.**

**If you haven't noticed (or have) you'll see that I know have a cover! Yay! It's been edited a bit by me, but it's original art was done by the talented _~tsurime_ on deviantART. You can check out her account on my profile :D Anyone else loving the editing system they have on FF?**

**Review Replies!**

**OhDarn:**

**Thanks for the long and lovely review! And I'm glad I made your bus ride enjoyable :D**

**Yeah, motivation is not one of my strong points. I know what you're saying though. I still have a long way to go :) And that's a way better simile than what I could come up with, haha! :D**

**Hopefully the quality is just as good...hehe...**

**Haha, maybe it was a little patronizing, but I appreciate all critiques. I'm kidding myself if everyone is going to like my story.**

**It's nice to know that other people are on the Trade-Mark's side :D**

**Well yes. But comments from strangers do make it more worthwhile )**

**I try not to :) Thanks!**

**Guest:**

**DAWG. WASSUP YO. I SHALL SEE YOU ON D.O.E.**

**I had a feeling you'd like Naminé, she is a lubly lil' lady, much like yourself. :D**

**Aw thanks, dear! Yes...SoKai...kekeke... AND HAHA. YOU SHALL NEVER FIND OUT. Well you will. In fact...if you read this chapter carefully and are as smart as you act...you might be able to pick out something... ;)**

**Kairi's secret... Who says she even has a secret? ;D**

**Well I'm updating now! Is that good enough for you! 8D**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, like duh. Nor do I own the few book references (HUNGER GAMES) I probably made in this chapter. A cookie for the person who can find any ;)<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Secrets<strong>

* * *

><p>"…<em>you've come to Destiny Islands and you have no idea what the Paopu fruit is?"<em>

* * *

><p>Kairi loathed laziness. She believed every moment in life had to be lived to the fullest.<p>

She loved swimming, baby chocobos, sunsets and meteor showers.

Kairi was adopted by Rinoa and Squall Leonhart when she was four, right after her grandmother passed away, after Naminé (her blood cousin) was adopted by Tifa and Cloud.

She never used hair dye – her tresses were seriously _that_ red.

You could only know these things about Kairi if you were her friend.

"Wait, you did _what_?!" I asked Kairi, who was busy regaling me with the details of the time she Mooglued her Science teacher to her seat.

She laughed loudly.

"Yup! God it was hilarious! She stands up to tell me off for Kingdom Heart's knows what and the chair comes up with her! Ha!"

I chuckled. "You're something else, ain'tcha?

She smiled wide and looked me in the eye. "I try."

It had been three days since we officially became friends. We mainly spent the time trying to get to know each other, since we were in almost every class together. Sure, Roxas teased me relentlessly along with Riku and people were still whispering about us, but for the first time…I felt _okay_ with it. Maybe it was because Kairi was here along with me.

We were sitting on the beach which overlooked the play island after school, while Roxas and Naminé had gone off to "draw" (which basically meant make out.) We were trying to finish our History homework, but had veered off track and started about our _own_ history. That was a topic I was seriously trying to avoid. I tried to deflect all the questions back to her, so I knew more about her, and she knew nothing about me. Sadly, I couldn't continue my tactic for long, and she eventually wound up asking me bluntly.

"So tell me, Sora. What's _your_ story?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my spikes.

"Honestly, there is nothing particularly interesting to say. My life was pretty boring…up until recently that is." I smiled at her. Her cheeks looked pink and I'm sure mine probably fared no better, but I was willing to do anything to not talk about my past.

"You are ridiculously cheesy," she said dryly.

"I try," I said mockingly. She rolled her eyes and watched the gentle waves of the beach spill onto the sand, it's overlapping blues and greens mixing together to create a whirlpool of unearthly colour; before retreating back into the sea.

It didn't matter whether or not you lived on Destiny Islands; the sea always took your breath away.

Kairi let out a loud gasp and rushed to the edge of the shore. She returned with a triumphant smile on her face and held up her prize: a thalassa shell.

I raised an eyebrow at her. She plopped back down next to me and brushed her fingers along the surface of the shell, tracing the grooves along its blended blue and yellow exterior.

"In Garden, you don't get any beaches. It's all ruins and buildings," she began to explain.

"Before my grandmother died, I met a lady who told me about a place with star shaped fruit…and the fruit represented an unbreakable connection. And that if you make a charm out of seashells in the shape of the fruit, it would keep you safe. Wives used to give them to their husbands when they had to go out on long fishing trips (which I find really sexist), for a safe journey. Have you heard about that?"

I told her I had. It was an old Destiny Islands tradition to make good luck charms in the shape of the legendary Paopu fruit with thalassa shells. On Destiny Day people had stalls selling thalassas and string to make them (buying pre-made good luck charms was unheard of) and they had thalassa charm making contests. Generally girls made them for guys, but it's branched out a lot more since the old days.

"What's the fruit called?" Kairi asked.

"…you've come to Destiny Islands and you have no idea what the Paopu fruit is?"

-SELDOMLOVESIMPLELIFE-

"So this is the legendary Paopu?" Kairi questioned, holding up the bright yellow fruit.

We were walking down Sunrise Boulevard, just off the coast of Sand Shore – where we were before. I had bought one from the nearby seaside shack for two munny (the rates were going ridiculously up, I tell you) and Kairi was examining it to its final detail.

"Indeed. If you share one with someone, your 'destinies will be intertwined forever', you know, your regular tourist fodder."

Kairi looked a little disheartened. "So it isn't true?"

I glanced at her hunched form. "Well, I don't believe it. But I guess once upon a time…maybe. Couples share one on weddings; it's sorta like tradition. They take a bite of their Paopu and then share the fruit with their family." I pursed my lips. My parents didn't have a proper 'wedding', but shared the customary Paopu and 'were more married than some big party or piece of paper would ever make them'. I shook my head. "But everyone eats them together all the time, and I'm pretty darn sure I'm not "intertwined" with a crap-load of people, so… I guess it depends on who you share it with and what it matters to you. Frankly, I think its utter bull."

"Why don't you believe it?" Kairi asked.

I scoffed. "I don't think a piece of fruit can connect me with people. That entire notion is stupid and impossible."

"What about spiritually?" Kairi probed. "Like…believing that you're connected?"

Beliefs don't get you far in life. You need motivation, drive and sense. I learnt that the hard way.

"Maybe."

"But you don't believe that?"

I kept silent. _What was she after?_

"Because of…Rikku?"

And there it was.

I froze in my spot and turned to face her. She had her hands clutched over her mouth and her eyes were wide with…was it fear?

How does she know about her?

"I- Roxas told me."

I know one of the most painful ways to kill someone was by ripping off their skin, but frankly stabbing Roxas through with my Keyblade felt like a _very_ good option.

"Oh? And what did he tell you?" My voice was harsh and cold, yet a burning current passed through my body. Anger.

"Well…I figured you had problems with girls before…and Selphie told me about some girl called um, Rikku and well I asked Roxas who she was and he said that…" she trailed off, before muttering something under her breath. Her eyes were darting all over my face in apprehension.

"Well? What?" My voice was scathing and sharp.

"He said that…something really bad happened between you and Rikku, and she…she–"

Suddenly, I wasn't on Sunrise Boulevard listening to Kairi's stammering.

I was on the play island, by the Paopu Tree and she was in my arms. She was there; she was holding onto me like a lifeline, she was _there_.

"_Don't leave me."_

I won't.

"_Stay with me."_

I will.

"_Love me_."

Forever.

And her hair was so smooth, her skin so warm, her scent so sweet and there was nothing there but her arms holding onto me, her heart beating together with my own. And I wanted nothing but her just to be there with me forever.

But she wasn't there anymore.

"_Why did you leave me?"_

"_Why didn't you stay with me?"_

"_Why didn't you love me?"_

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

And I just repeated those words.

And my face was wet from all the rain; it mixed with my tears.

And my heart was frozen.

And she was gone.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

And I was remembering her. Her smile, her hair, her nose, her cheeks, her skin.

Her eyes.

Beautiful.

_The colours of twilight._

And they were right in front of me.

I felt like all the breath had been sucked out of me, then blown right back in. Kairi was standing there, looking more frightened than Roxas when I caught him betting. I couldn't understand how this one girl could trigger all the memories, all the strain I'd worked so hard to push down with a single look. It was shocking and it was unlike anything. But I knew that there had to be a reason, something that linked everything together. So I decided to wait and watch. To see how it all played out.

Kairi kept stammering apologizes, before I raised a hand to stop her.

"Calm down."

She blinked owlishly at me.

"Curiosity is understandable. But it is none of your business."

"I…I know. I just…wanted to know what made you…bitter."

I clenched and unclenched my fists. Waiting and watching sure was proving to be a challenge.

"I've always been like this." I muttered, coldly. What I would give to be at home right now…

"Liar. I know you were someone else. I see flashes of what you were before." She said, instantly.

I turned to her; my eyes were as wide as Mickey Mouse's ears.

Who _was_ Kairi? I had never met anyone as curious and eager as her. Not even Rikku–

I shook my head clear of thoughts before I took another trip down memory lane. Or better yet, trauma lane.

What did Kairi even want? What did she stand to gain?

She smiled softly at me and took my hand.

"I want nothing from you, Sora. Just your happiness."

_Holy mother of Moogle…can she read minds? _I wouldn't have been surprised…

She led me down the street, her hand clasped tightly around mine.

Whoever Kairi was…one thing was certain.

I wasn't going to let her go anytime soon. Not like I let _her_ go before.

* * *

><p>We eventually met up with Roxas and Naminé and trekked back home. They would not stop glancing back at me and Kairi, with those stupid <em>"I know what you've been up to~"<em> smiles.

I knew I should've let go of her hand.

It was just…when Kairi told me that she wanted me to be happy, I honestly believed her. I felt that she could help me get over what happened with Rikku. I felt…that she truly believed in me.

It was weird.

But I liked it.

Roxas and Naminé quickly left us alone after we let ourselves in the house. They buggered off to do god knows what in Roxas' room while Kairi and I were awkwardly sitting in the living room, having absolutely nothing to talk about. Which was surprising considering how much Kairi liked to talk. Just to break the silence, I turned on our old analogue TV and changed it to the news. A news reporter was giving a report on Shinra, an urgent tone in her voice.

"_Shinra have recently confessed to experimenting on people – and are now requesting police help to find two of their highly dangerous experiments who escaped last week."_

"Sora," Kairi started.

_The identities of these experiments have yet to be released, and our knowledge is limited. However Shinra has admitted that they have been taking young children with certain genetic DNA qualities away from their families by falsely stating that they have–"_

"Soraaa," she pressed.

"_Professor Hojo of Shinra is said to have been leading these experiments and was apprehended earlier today. The police released his statement to us here at Seven Lights News–"_

"Sora!"

Dammit woman. Can't you see that I'm trying to watch the news?

"…_look I don't care what you do to me. Take me away from my experiments or sue me for everything I have… I don't care. But the experiments that escaped…they're beyond dangerous. They _will_ hurt you if you get too close; they will not take pity on you. They aren't human…no. They're monsters and if–"_

Suddenly the dramatic story disappeared. I playfully glared up at Kairi who was holding the TV remote in her hand. She shot me a disapproving frown, but her eyes were smiling.

"I was actually watching that," I said, as she plonked down next to me. The couch was quite small, so she had to squash up next to me a lot.

"Suuuure." She dragged out sarcastically.

"I was!"

"Hm."

We fell into a comfortable silence.

"Sora?" Kairi asked after a while.

"Yeah?"

"You will tell me one day, won't you? About Rikku?"

I tensed up and stared down at her cranberry tresses. She turned her face toward me, her twilight eyes stared up into my own.

I was drowning all over again. And before I could even think my mouth acted without my brain's consent. Again.

Thankfully it wasn't something as stupid as kissing her.

"I promise, I will tell you."

I was pretty damn sure that I would regret ever saying that, but in that moment everything was okay. I was almost…at peace.

Almost.

* * *

><p>When the weekend finally rolled around the entire gang (minus Hayner, Pence and Olette) was all hanging out in our usual haunt; the play island.<p>

It was where Riku and I used to spend our days when we were little, along with Tidus, Wakka and Selphie. Roxas was always busy getting in trouble on the mainland.

I hadn't been there since I last saw Rikku.

Naminé, Kairi, and Roxas were splashing each other by the beach, while Riku and I were sitting on the Paopu tree. The tree grew out to the side, so it was easy to clamber up and lie on.

"Have you heard about Shinra?" Riku asked me, after a while. It was a strange topic to start off with, but Riku generally helped his foster dad – the Mayor – with the cases that came up. He shared a lot of information with me, which I guess is illegal but no one really cared.

"Yeah, somethin' about…experiments? Escaped ones…and some serious legal issues were going down." I said, slowly.

"Dad was talking about it at dinner last night. Professor Hojo – the guy who started the experiments – was telling the cops about it. Said they were highly trained, Project J and Experiment V. Project J has connections to Mako energy, and Experiment V has connections to the…to the Unversed." Riku said grimly.

I leant back. "The _Unversed_? You have gotta be kiddin'. I thought they were eliminated seven years ago, when Ven was on that case?"

Before Ven went into a coma, he used to work for the Masters; our police force. He was on the Unversed Case, which was investigating these strange beings - a lot like Heartless and Nobodies - that were attacking people in the outlying towns on DI. They believed it had a connection with Xehanort, who was the biggest criminal the worlds had ever come across. When Ven was on the case (along with Aqua and Terra, who also worked for the Masters) he suspended the cause of the Unversed, but before he could call back to the headquarters and give the full report, Xehanort got to him. He was actually in the middle of reporting back to the Masters working on the case, but did not get far until he was apprehended by Xehanort. No one knew what Xehanort did, but after that Ven was in a serious comatose state. We weren't allowed to pull the plug on him, because he was the only person who saw Xehanort (not in disguise), and lived. The Masters and the Worldly government clung onto the hope that he will wake to aid with the Xehanort Cases. The only positive outcome of the case was the elimination of the Unversed, but aside from that, it was an utter failure.

Riku gave me a sympathetic stare. "I don't know how exactly Experiment V has connections to the Unversed. With Heartless and Nobodies…it's easier to tell, considering they all linger in the Dark Realm and invasions by them are rare. But the Unversed…they are something else. And also…" Riku hesitated.

"What?" I turned to face him. His eyes were downcast.

"I was looking into some files on Shinra, when dad was there for the investigation…"

"And?"

Riku looked incredibly uncomfortable. "I came across a file on Mako energy. You know the infusion they give to SOLDIERs?"

I nodded. I was familiar with the concept. It made SOLDIERs much more strong and capable. My dad underwent the infusion, as did Cloud.

Riku coughed and flicked some silver hair out of his turquoise eyes. "I came across some experiment info…and they had a couple of SOLDIERs who were experimented on…"

I breathed in sharply.

"…your dad was on the list…and so was Cloud."

Before I could utter another word a boyish shriek broke my thoughts. Riku and I hurried down to the beach and found Kairi and Naminé relatively shocked, whereas Roxas…

Roxas was busy embracing a tall, male figure with all his might.

"Man I haven't seen you in _ages_!" Roxas cried, tightly holding onto the older guy.

"Roxy, you asshole! Where have you been?!" The man yelled. How they didn't go deaf from their close proximity was surprising.

Riku and I glanced at each other. He looked as stunned as I felt.

Kairi looked absolutely confused, whereas Naminé looked…happy?

What the hell was going on?

* * *

><p>"The name's Axel, got it memorized?"<p>

Roxas was literally bouncing up and down like a ball, Naminé looked serene, Riku and Kairi looked confused, while the man introduced himself to us.

He had fiery red hair, brighter than Kairi's, which spiked downwards out of the back of his head and out the sides. He had sharp, hungry emerald eyes that raked over us with interest. It was disconcerting…but there was something playful about him that put me at ease. Maybe it was the odd teardrop shaped tattoos under his eyes.

He snapped his fingers and gestured toward me. "He your bro?" he asked Roxas.

"Yeah!" Roxas replied enthusiastically.

"Sora, right?" Axel asked, fist outstretched. I bumped it cautiously with my own.

Riku raised an eyebrow at the man's antics and turned towards me.

"I've got a date with Paine and she hates it when I'm late. I'll catch you later." And with that he went over to the dock and rowed back to the mainland.

Okay…?

Axel smirked and grinned at me eyebrow raised cockily. He turned to Roxas and whispered in his ear. Roxas' face visibly paled and he nodded. The two of them, along with Naminé walked off to the Paopu tree – where Riku and I were before. Kairi and I were alone.

She looked at me expectantly and I stared dumbly back. Her hair was scraped back into a high ponytail, which gave me a clear view of her sharp, pretty face. Her twinkling eyes were lively and her lips were pulled back into a relaxed smile. She wasn't wearing her pale pink bikini (thank god) but instead was in a light periwinkle tank top that brought out her eyes and denim shorts-that-weren't-short-shorts-but-were-still-pr etty-short shorts.

"Suppose we find out what they're talking about?" she said, smiling impishly.

"What if they catch us?"

"…"

Pretty soon we were positioned on the very top of the coconut trees that were in a large clump by the Paopu tree. It made me feel ridiculous, but Kairi looked like she was having a good time. We managed to hear part of their _"oh-so-secret_" conversation:

"…but I made it final to Xemnas." Roxas said.

"I'm sure you did. But Mansex doesn't like people saying no to him. You showed him up. You knew you were one of the best. And now _I'm_ in trouble." That was definitely Axel's drawl.

"Well…what about you? Aren't you going to be in deep shit by doing this?" Roxas seemed very agitated.

"I quit."

"You did _what–_?"

"I did what I had to do, dude. I- I _had_ to. Half the guys aren't even _there_ anymore. Dem, Larxene, Zexy. Hell, even _the Vixen–_ I mean, Vexen. It was about time. I couldn't just go around bringing you back all the time, could I?" Axel sounded amused.

I wasn't.

Was the rumour about Roxas and the cult gang true? Who _was_ Axel?

"Huh, I guess. I've missed you bro."

"Me too. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Naminé Strife. Even though you did steal Roxy away."

Naminé's giggled. "You too, Axel. I've heard much about you."

"You really are worth it. You completed our lil' idiot here."

"Hey!" Roxas protested

The three of them burst out laughing.

"Oh man," Axel began, "You should've seen the stupid excuse Roku came up with the third time he was arrested by–"

That's where I came in.

I jumped from the tree and bolted to the three of them pretty swiftly. They all looked scared out of their wits, and _oh they should've been_.

"What the hell, Roxas! You were ARRESTED–"

"It's not what you think!" Roxas looked incredibly guilty.

"The _hell_ it's not–"

"Just let me explain–"

"_Explain?_"

I lunged at Roxas, ready to force him down – but a pair of strong arms prevented me from doing so.

"Whoa, Sor. Whoa. Let Roxas explain."

I whirled towards him.

"Oh? Why should I, _Axel_? I know for sure that you're in this…cult gang!"

This stopped him.

"Cult gang?"

Roxas looked stunned. "…that's what you think?"

I didn't even notice Kairi sidling up beside me. "I think you should let them explain, Sora."

I glowered. "Fine. Explain."

Axel and Roxas looked at each other. Roxas cleared his throat. "Well…as you probably figured…before I met Naminé, I was sorta depressed."

I snorted derisively. I knew _that_ much.

Roxas stammered on. "During that time, I met Axel. He sorta…helped me in a way. He introduced me to the Organization and they–"

"Organization?" I interrupted.

"Organization XIII. A group of thirteen people, seeking to be whole again through the most physical form of expression. Art." Axel explained.

I felt my jaw drop. "_Art?_"

Roxas looked sheepish.

"Well…not _just_ art. We also do flash mobs, rallies, protests and stuff. Art is our main goal. Like…street artworks and stuff. Graffiti to sculptures. Things to capture attention. We were sponsored by CAT design." Axel continued.

I raised an eyebrow. If there was one thing my friend Neku was passionate about, it was CAT. He lived by its motto, '_Do what you want, when you want, where you want.'_ It mainly explained his half-assed attitude. I heard enough about CAT from him. I wondered how he'd react if he found out about Roxas' ties with it…whatever those ties were.

"But…what's this about being _arrested_?" I queried.

Axel chuckled. "What we do is technically illegal. I mean, graffiti, no matter how pretty it is, is not allowed. When we get caught…we sometimes have to fight our way out. Our leader, Xemnas, sometimes has the major thirteen (that includes Roxy and I) steal and break stuff. And not to mention we sometimes permanently 'damage' areas. Roxas is good, but when it comes to stealth…he kinda sucks."

Roxas looked irritated, "I don't _suck_–"

"But Mansex- or Xemnas, as I should call him, covers all mistakes." Axel cut in. "He's not a guy you wanna mess with. We barely get to see the guy…but he calls all the shots, he organizes everything. He's probably in the Mafia on the side. That's why I was warning Roxas. Roxy…he kinda showed up Xemnas."

"What did he do?" I asked, completely perplexed.

"He–" Axel began.

"I left. I went up to Xemnas and told him that I didn't want to be a part of his…game anymore. I loved some of the work we did…but we started doing more dangerous stuff and I just…didn't want anything to do with it anymore. Nami convinced me. She…she almost died because of me."

Naminé hung her head in what appeared to be shame. Almost died? What happened? Scratch that, what was happening?

Roxas shook his head and continued. "I didn't want to put her, or anyone else in danger. I had to focus on my life and not be running around like a criminal anymore, y'know? Axel tried to stop me at first, but he understood. I got into this huge fight with Riku, he found out about me being in league with the Organization, but he let me go. He told me that he'd give me this chance, to prove myself as not a bad guy. He didn't want to put more on your plate."

Right. That was when Mum's business was just coming up and when Rikku…anyways. I can't say I was happy with Riku, but I understood why he didn't tell me.

I'd go along with this…for now.

I scowled at Axel. "What happens now, then? Why are _you_ here?"

He snickered and leant back, ruffling his hair. "Now? Nothin'. Just came to hang with ol' Roxy and warn him about Xemnas. Mansex ain't one to mark down one of his own guys, but you can't be too careful."

I nodded and someone cleared their throat beside me. Kairi. I had completely forgotten she was there.

She was beaming. "Well, now that's all sorted and we're all friends, how about a swim?"

Roxas cheered and he, Kairi and Axel scrambled to the ocean. Naminé stayed behind with me. She patted my cheek.

"Cheer up, Sora."

I rubbed my temple with my fingers. "I can't. Roxas in an 'art gang', you almost dying, weird guys coming up and freaking me out…" I sighed. "Riku was telling me about those escaped Shinra experiments." Naminé nodded and gestured for me to continue. "One of them was connected to the Unversed…and he also found a document of experiments done on SOLDIERs. Cloud and my dad were on the list." I said grimly.

Naminé stiffened and then sighed. "I'll have to let him know. It's about Mako energy, right?"

"Yeah…" How did she…?

"Dad told me about it. Your dad saved his life, you know? They both escaped experimentation…but I don't know the whole story. Dad found it too painful to talk about."

This was news to me. I never really bothered to find out about the circumstances surrounding my father's death; I just saw it as a problem that I needed to fix. He was one of our main sources of income; I had only Ven to rely on, and when he was gone, my nine year old self had to figure out some money. I wasn't proud of the routes I had to take, but I did what I had to do to survive.

As sad as it was, I honestly did not care about my father after he died. He left us with next to nothing and we had been close to starving so much since then that I felt nothing but bitter resentment toward him. But my mother…she still loved him with all her heart. She had no place for anyone else and…I owed it to her to find out what happened. She did all she could for Roxas and I – despite everything. She was strong.

I pursed my lips. "I should talk to Cloud about that. He'll be interviewed sooner or later."

Naminé nodded sadly. Cloud wasn't the most talkative person at the best of times; his time in SOLDIER really changed him, especially my father's death. This would be hard on him.

Naminé looked over at Roxas, Axel and Kairi and smiled. Axel was carrying Roxas, preparing to throw him into the ocean while Kairi clapped and giggled. I had no idea how she managed to make friends with complete strangers. She was a people person, I guessed.

"It seems to be going well with Kairi." Naminé said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

I got ready to respond with my usual irritated answer whenever she asked about Kairi and I, but I honestly saw no reason to. It wasn't a lie after all.

"You could say that." I mused. "She's strange, refuses to leave me alone and give up…but I like her." I finished truthfully. There was no use lying.

Naminé's ivory face stretched with a wide, brilliant grin. I rolled my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. Before she could say a word, I spoke.

"I'm going for a walk. Don't wait up for me." I turned on my heel and walked away from the beach toward the lake. After checking that no one was following or looking at me, I ducked under and into the hidden hole in the rock wall. I crouched low, feeling the undergrowth snag at my clothes until I finally managed to straighten up.

It was the Secret Place.

When Riku and I were younger, we always spent our time scribbling on the walls and hiding out; waiting to fight monsters. There was a large wooden door on the far end, but it was impossible to open and so we let it be.

I ran my hands over the smooth crevices of the hard rock cave, touching the childish scribbles and dates that were indented into the stone. Moss grew on some of the tough slabs with a lack of doodles, but aside from that, very few plants grew in the rugged, gritty grotto.

Only Riku and I had ever come to this cave, excluding who would've come before us. The walls were bare and untouched, and were soon brought to life by our squiggly artworks. I never even invited Rikku in here. I do remember inviting someone else a long time ago, but that was most likely Ven.

I sat down heavily on the cave floor and buried my hands in my spikes. I felt ridiculous. I shouldn't even be here, I should be with Aqua, training hard for the Keyblade tournament, or helping Mum at the store, or even studying. Not just lazing around in a dank cave like some–

My train of thought stopped when a figure rolled into the cavern with a loud _oomph!_

She stood up, rubbing the back of her neck with a pout, before snapping her head up.

"Hi!" Kairi greeted, despite the fact I had just seen her ten minutes ago.

My jaw dropped and I exclaimed, "What are _you_ doing here?"

She smiled sheepishly. "I wanted to see if this place was still here."

This surprised me and it probably showed on my face because she looked even more embarrassed.

"How do _you_ know about the Secret Place?" I asked, astounded.

She walked around me and traced her fingers on the same scribbles that I was thumbing earlier. She sighed, and turned to face me. It looked like she had come to some important decision. I waited patiently.

"You showed it to me."

* * *

><p><strong>In the next installments...<strong>

_"AH! My virgin eyes!"_

_"No, Shiki! Don't touch that!"_

_"Ventus...?"_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: DUN DUN DUHHHHH.**

**Ahem so yes. This be it, it's a bit shorter than my last two...but I think it was okay. Frankly I think I could've done better. I was debating on that last line...**

**I wouldn't expect an update, because I have exams, and I'm stuck studying for 6-7 hours a day in my holidays :'( But look forward to the next chappie! I am... X)**

**And fifty reviews?! WHAT THE CHEESE. I LOVE Y'ALL (even though only like four of you reviewed the latest chappie D:)**

**Review, Follow, Favourite, anything really.**

**See you soon!**

**~Versy**

* * *

><p>Word Count: 5 579<p> 


	6. Don't You Remember

**A/N: Hi guys!**

**Sorry, this update was a lil' later than I wanted, but I had exams all the previous week and I didn't find the time to get down and write. But that's all done now!**

**About this chappie...well, lets just say I won't mind if you shoot me -_-'**

**It's much shorter than I originally hoped, but I really wanted to update fast so, here it is!**

**Disclaimer: No. Just...no.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Don't You Remember<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em>It's not my fault you're so freaking bipolar!"<em>

* * *

><p>I was frozen. I couldn't breathe or blink.<p>

_You showed it to me._

_**You**__ showed it to me._

_You showed it to__** me**__._

"…why are you showing me this place, Sowa?"

"'Cause you're weal special, Kai!" I chuckled. She was so silly. "Only special people can see this place! But don't tell Wiku…he won't be very happy that a girl is in the Secwet Place, heh." I scratched the back of my four year old head, grinning.

Kairi tilted her head to the side. "Wiku? I don't think I've met him."

"Aw, you haven't met him yet? But you're leavin' tomorrow!" I felt so miserable that the girl in front of me hadn't met my best friend. It was incredibly upsetting.

Kairi giggled, and I automatically felt better. I loved it when she smiled. "That's okay! I'll be back one day, and I can meet him then! And your bwother too!" She linked her arms together behind her back and rocked back and forth. I beamed at her.

"That's a gweat idea! You have to come back _weally _soon, okay? Pwomise?" I held out my pinky and she intertwined it with her own.

"I pwomise!"

_You promised…_

"Do you dwaw here?" she asked, touching the crevices and cracks on the cave wall. I smiled at her in admiration. She was really pretty for a girl – but I'd never say that in front of anyone.

"Yeah! Wiku and I dwaw all the time here!" I crossed my arms behind my head and leant back.

"Can I do a dwawing with you?" Kairi asked quietly.

"Of course! But we better hide it, so Wiku doesn't find it." I pressed my finger to my lips and nodded. She copied me.

I grabbed her hand and took her to the corner of the cave, by the mystery door, and we sat down on the cool rock. I handed her a sharp rock to draw with, and began scraping the wall.

Time seemed to pass strangely, as if in a dream, because almost as soon as we sat down, someone was calling our names for us to come out. We stopped and looked at our pieces of art. Then we looked at each other's.

Kairi had drawn my face. It was easy to tell it was me, because the hair was spiky and the grin was wide. I couldn't help matching the grin. It was a great drawing, and it made me feel a little nervous as to how she would react to my own. I did draw her, after all.

I was blushing; I really hoped she liked it. I hoped for that more than _anything_.

Kairi turned to me with smile, she held my hand tightly and said, "Thank you, Sora."

I flushed even redder. "What for? You dwew me too, hehe." I scratched the back of my head.

"Not just fow that. Fow being a good fwend." She said seriously.

"You don't need to thank me fow being a good _fwend_." I laughed, "Fwends are power. Having them makes the worlds better!" I said, beaming. My face was hurting a little from smiling so much, but Kairi was worth it.

Kairi smiled softly at me, and pulled her hand away from my own.

"I'll miss you," she said. Then without any warning, she leaned forward and pecked me on the cheek, turned around and fled from the cave.

I was so shocked; my face was burning when I touched the place where she kissed it.

_Kissed_ it.

Did that mean I had _cooties_?! Riku was going to kill me!

But...what Riku wouldn't know wouldn't hurt him. I swore then that I wouldn't tell _anyone_ about Kairi, and for good measure I rolled some rocks over to the wall where Kairi and I were drawing, and covered it up. Convinced that no one could ever find it, I ran out of the cave, shaking off any memory of the cave…and of Kairi.

_You showed it to me_.

"Sora."

What? Was someone calling me? I could barely put two thoughts together.

"Sora?"

Now that's my name…or was it? My thoughts were too muddled and confused, what was going on again?

"_Sora!"_

My eyes snapped open and I took in my surroundings. I was in the Secret Place, that much I remembered. But who was–

_Oh._

Kairi was staring down at me, and a mixture of relief and disbelief graced her face. Her large periwinkle eyes were very close to my own, and I instinctively reeled back. I got up from the rock floor and shook my head forcefully.

"What…what happened?" I asked her. My voice was hoarse and low.

Kairi's cheeks turned pink. "Well…um, you sorta passed out after I told you that you showed me this place."

My eyes were as wide as saucers. I shot up from my place on the hard floor and bolted toward the back of the cavern. I ripped away a layer of moss and other vines and brambles; cutting my hands. I kept at it, throwing back rocks and boulders which had settled and moulded together, which made my job much more difficult. After much of this strenuous work, I made contact with the smooth flat cave wall. I brushed the remaining pebbles and stared at the cold stone.

There. Scratched onto the smooth plain was two heads. One clearly a girl with short hair. One unmistakably a boy with spikey hair and a wide smile. They were still here, a stark white against cool grey-blue. I traced my fingers against the drawings. They were still here, despite the fact that they should've deteriorated. I pressed my fist against the illustrations, ignoring the pain that shot through my hand. They were _still_ here, as if the years had not passed at all.

"You're bleeding."

My head snapped up. Kairi was kneeling beside me, and she took my hands in her smaller, warmer ones. She brushed her thumb over my clenched fists and unfurled my fingers, one by one loosening them from their tight grip, and inspected my wounds.

"They're only scratches." I whispered, finding my voice again. I swallowed thickly and stared at her fluffy, long black eyelashes as she continued examining my hands. Her eyes travelled up to my own and I was lost in that purple-blue oblivion.

"You don't want them to get infected." Her voice was a bare murmur.

I was fully aware of how _alone_ we were in the Secret Place. There was no one there, Roxas and Naminé wouldn't know where we were. It was just us. _Alone._ In a cave. No one would know if I leant in and-

_Wait_.

I jumped back and leapt to my feet. I glared at the crouched girl in front of me, and looked up at me, as if in a daze.

"Why didn't you tell me that you knew me?"I asked her, my tone accusatory. She blinked a couple of times, before standing up. Once again I was reminded of our _close_ proximity. She was barely a metre away.

"I couldn't find the right time," she said and averted her eyes. She looked at everything; except me.

My response was scathing and sarcastic. "Couldn't find the right time?"

She turned back towards me, frowning and her dark eyebrows knitted together. "Yes, Sora. I couldn't find the right time. I remembered all about some guy who didn't even know me or like me. Or even want to be in my bloody presence!" Her voice was steadily getting louder and louder, and she advanced on me. I soon found myself flat against the smooth stone wall with her finger prodding against my chest.

"Ugh! And every time I _try_ to bring it up you act all _rude_ and _snobby_, and then all want to tell you is to _get a life_! Then you act all sweet and caring and I want to tell you all over the truth! It's not my fault you're so freaking bipolar!"

She was panting heavily, anger and rage clouding her eyes. She'd not yet realized how close together we were. All I could focus on was _her_, her bright eyes, her button nose…her peach lips. They were slightly parted, to allow the puffs of air to enter and escape her lungs. They were _not_ there for me to lean in and capture them with my own. _They were not._

But lately, I had been going against my own wishes a lot.

"Feel better?" My voice was the softest, most silent whisper.

Instantly, the gravity of our situation dawned on her. Her eyes widened rapidly and her body tensed up. I felt oddly confident, even though I was backed up against the cave wall and she was practically pinning me there. My eyes travelled from her lips, up her nose and to her shining eyes.

Expectance.

She was expecting me to do something. What was it? Did she want me to push her off me? Yell at her? Or did she want me to…

Kiss her?

If so, the feeling was mutual. I saw no need to deny it. I might've been against love, but I was a teenage guy. I had hormones, and Kairi was, admittedly, a hot girl who had her body pressed up against mine. My, uh, _urges_ was only natural.

My mind was clouded over with lust. I was no longer thinking carefully. I wasn't thinking of the serious repercussions that would happen if I pressed my lips onto hers. All that my mind allowed me to see was her soft lips, and her pink tongue that unconsciously moistened them. Closer and closer. Her eyes were closing and her lips became larger and her body was leaning heavily against mine and her breath was against my lips and her fingers were stroking the sides of my face and I was just about to hurry up and close the damn gap–

But fate had always hated me.

"_You cower in the corner! Confide in your father! Let it out and say, let it pass away."_

Kairi and I jumped back (which pretty much meant that I smacked my head really hard against the wall), and her expression was full of shock and surprise…and, was that _guilt_?

She fished her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

"Yes?" her voice was clear and bright, as if nothing had happened. Which I guess was true. I awkwardly pushed myself off the wall and tried to look busy, which ended in failure.

"What? Oh no, nothing. I'll be over soonish." Kairi hung up the phone and tucked it away in her pocket. She looked up at me and turned beet red. She started stammering nervously.

"O-oh, um, Nami wanted to tell u-us that she, Roxas and Axel have gone to the mainland to catch up she'd meet us back at her house, b-because she said that Cloud and you had something to discuss." She was incredibly endearing when she was nervous. She started playing with the hem of her tank top and twirling her claret hair around her fingers; which were tracing my face just minutes before. I felt my own face heat up, and I busied myself with examining the grazes on my hands, which were still bleeding slightly.

"I can help you with that." A timid voice interrupted my hand inspection. My head snapped up and I saw Kairi's flushed face staring at me probingly, as if trying to figure something out. She stepped hesitantly toward me, and pulled my hands toward her. She searched her pockets for something, and pulled out some bandages and some small antiseptic wipes.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Do you normally go out this prepared?"

She rolled her eyes, "I fall down a lot," she said, somewhat defensively, "You never know when a couple o' bandages and some antiseptic come in handy." She promptly began cleaning my wounds, and she smirked slightly when I winced. After bandaging them (quite well, I should add) she looked up at me and said, "All better." She started to pull her hands away from mine, but I regained my grip on them. I didn't know what was going through my mind at all – only that I didn't want her to leave. I wanted her to stay there, with me.

Her eyes widened, and she held my gaze intensely. What was my next move?

"Did Naminé specify a certain time we had to meet up with her?" I asked Kairi, my voice a low, lewd murmur. A gentle wind travelled through the cave and blew her hair forward; engulfing my senses with the soft, strange smell of sunflowers and strawberries. It was a unique mix, but it was enticing, and made me want to…behave not very appropriately.

Kairi shook her head. "No…she didn't." Her normally open and playful eyes were clouded over with something darker and more passionate. Did she want it too?

"Do _you_ plan on leaving soon?" I had no idea where my lecherous tone came from. I hadn't spoken like that to anyone in a long time, but I decided to wing it. "Because, I plan on staying a little while longer…and I wouldn't mind the company."

Her tone mimicked mine – low, soft and _full_ of implications. "What do you plan on doing?" One of her hands had slipped out of mine and trailed up my arm, causing all the hairs to stand on end. My body shuddered with excitement. I forgot how much I loved it when Rikku would–

_Aw hell._

Why _then_? Why the hell did I have to think of _her_ when I was with Kairi? It just spun my mind into a more confusing web. Kairi wasn't Rikku. She wasn't. I had to keep reminding myself that; when really, it should've been instinctual.

My face must've registered some sort of shocked or horrified expression, because Kairi instantly realized that something had happened. She pulled her hands away from mine and asked me what was wrong. Without her holding onto my hands, I was shaking.

Rikku, Rikku, Rikku. I couldn't get her out of my head! She was everywhere, and I felt like I was betraying her by even _thinking_ about Kairi like that. How was this honouring her memory?

So I did what came naturally. I hightailed it outta there.

I stepped back abruptly, dusted off my clothes and steeled myself. I felt my face form back into its usual cool, unassuming mask and looked at Kairi straight in the face. She looked incredibly confused, and slightly hurt. I felt guilty for leading her on like that, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I took a deep breath and said, "I have to go. I'd rather not be late – Cloud and I do have important stuff to talk about. Do you want me to row you back?"

Kairi mirrored my stiff posture and said, "No thanks. I think I'll stay here a little while longer."

I nodded at her and started to leave. When I brushed past her, she held onto my arm.

"Don't take things too seriously, okay _Sowa_?" she said. Her voice had a strange sort of sadness to it, which made it hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or not. I had no idea what she meant either. Did she mean that our…_moment_ wasn't real or serious? Or did she mean to not to take things "too seriously" in general?

I was still puzzling it out when I rowed back to the mainland.

* * *

><p>Cloud Strife was one of the very few people I trusted. He and I 'got' each other. We knew to an extent what we had been through, and he was the one person I could count in when my life went to shit. Cloud, being Tifa's husband, was also something of a looker. It wasn't surprising with his light blond hair, spiked stylishly upward – much like Roxas', actually, his composed, unperturbed expression and tall, athletic stature. Even if you hadn't seen him, it was easy to tell he was something from the various gaggle of giggling girls and women that always hung around him in Seventh Heaven. It was quite amusing to watch considering how irritated and disgruntled he'd get when he tried to shake them off. Being my dad's best friend, we were already on pretty good terms with each other, and he helped our family out a lot after Ven went into a coma for which I was heavily in his debt for. He was my go-to guy when I needed advice; whether it was about making money or avoiding fangirls – he was always there to help me out. One of the main reasons I really liked the guy was the fact that he always treated me as an equal, and never looked down or patronized me like so many other adults.<p>

It was quite a strange because, for the first time – I felt incredibly nervous to talk to him.

When I reached the Lockhart–Strife Residence, I was surprised to find that Naminé and Roxas weren't in; they'd most likely buggered off to find a more private spot to canoodle without prying parents' eyes…or something.

I found him shut up in his study frowning at a piece of paper like he had just found his name on Santa's Naughty List. It was a circular room, with a low ceiling. It was cluttered with various articles of paper and numerous weapons looked like they had been taken off their places on the walls and were haphazardly hung back up. The room was dim; the metal blinds were drawn over the entire exterior. The only bright light came from his latest edition CAT computer.

I cleared my throat, and he glanced up, warily. When he saw it was just me, he smiled. Well not exactly smiled, but looked a lot less pissed off and more…pleased? It was hard to tell with Cloud. He generally kept a straight face in all situations; regardless of what was going on.

"Hey, Sora. Roxas and Nam aren't here, but–" Cloud started.

"I'm not here for them. I needed to talk to you." I cut in. He raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, take a seat." His voice seemed a little suspicious as I lowered myself into a chair that wasn't covered in stacked papers.

"You've heard about the latest news on Shinra, right? The one about Experiment V and Project J?" I cut to the chase. There was no reason to beat around the bush.

Cloud's eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah, I've heard a little about that."

"Well, Riku was doing some digging over at Shinra when he was there with his dad…and he said- he said he found a list of SOLIDERS who had been experimented on."

Cloud clenched his fists and stared down at his desk. His spikey bangs flopped over his eyes, which made it even harder to decipher his usually enigmatic gaze.

I didn't even have to say the next words, but I did anyway.

"Your name, along with Dad's was on it."

Cloud's head snapped up from its drooping position. He looked pained, and I could tell that he wanted no part of this conversation.

"I want to know what happened to Dad…for Mum's sake."

The mention of my mother seemed to change something in him and he sat up. He stared straight at me and let out a long breath. His face took on an expression of grim determination. He slowly rose from his office chair, made his way to the far end of the room and pushed a small button that was almost invisible on the wall. There was the sound of a machine whirring, and the metal blinds that covered the outside of the room split open, were brought down and hidden by a casing on the outside.

Since Cloud and Tifa lived on the top of one of the highest peaks of Central Destiny Islands; they had the most incredibly breathtaking views. Cloud's study room walls and ceiling were made up entirely of windows, and was the perfect observation point for DI. To the west you could see Play Island in the distance, as well as the sugar white beaches and districts. To the east was downtown DI, the home of most businesses and our university – DIU. To the north and south you'd find the shopping districts – the south generally sold clothing and housewares, whereas the north was mainly for food and other such items. Each of the "Four Corners" as it was called had its own beach type. The north was known for its rocky shores and churning waves, the south for its perfect surfer's waves, the east for its epic tide pools, and the west for its beautiful sugar white beaches, perfect for swimming and hanging out. And this was just the mainland. The other smaller islands that were scattered around the Main Island were home to all sorts of other uses. Destati, the largest of the smaller islands was home of our Paopu Plantation, the general farming exportation to all the other worlds.

The second biggest was Hikari, our power island. The entire island was covered in a huge dome made out of solar panels. The ozone layer was slightly thinner in that area, and for an inexplicable reason had sixteen hours of sunshine, which the Islander Government made to use by producing solar energy with.

On the inside of the island there were all sorts of machinery such as wind turbines which generated even more renewable energy. Whenever there were strong winds, the solar panels automatically lifted up from the ground and smoothed out as a flattened plain over the top of the island; held up by its strong metal poles. The wind turbines could be activated by the gales, and we'd generate more energy. Whenever the winds weren't strong, the panels would close back over the island. The outside perimeter of the island generated wave and tidal power from the crashing waves. Amazing, right?

Anyways, Cloud was staring out toward the Northern Beaches with his arms folded. I was pretty sure he wasn't going to tell me anything, so I turned to leave – but then he started talking.

"Twelve years ago, wasn't it? When Zack…_died_." Cloud's voice was soft, and lower than he had ever spoken before.

I turned back toward him, eyebrows raised. "Yes. Something like that."

Cloud nodded, and leant against the window. Well one part of the window considering the entire room except the floor was all windows but I guess– ugh. You know what I mean.

Cloud took a deep breath, and began his story.

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><p><strong>In the next installments...<strong>

_"AH! My virgin eyes!"_

_"No Shiki, don't touch that!"_

_"Ventus...?"_

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><p><strong>AN: Hehe... *dodges various objects***

**Yeah, ahem, I didn't really want to get into Cloud's Story this early on so I cut it. Fancy that about Kairi, eh? No? Okay then.\**

**Oh! I've entered NaNoWriMo by the way. If you don't know what it is just check it out on Google. It stands for National Novel Writing Month and basically is a "competition" where you have to write a 50 000 word novel in November, starting from November 1st to 30th. Awesome, no? :D**

**Well, drop a review if you liked it! I love feedback :D**

**~Versy**

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><p>Word Count: 3 972<p> 


	7. Shattered

**A/N: …hi?**

**First off, the immense guilt I'm feeling right now is just unbearable, so I'm going to get the ball rolling with a big fat helping of I'M SORRY. My story has been left alone for months and I owe all you beautiful readers an apology. I wrote the seventh chapter (and the eighth) but my computer contracted some virus, and all my work got erased. I was very uninspired after that. **_**Then**_** I had exams, so no updating there – and I've been overseas for every single one of my holidays since then. Heck, I'm going to Japan in a few days! Now I just finished my exams, a term early as well, so I have a lot more time to write, and I promise you guys, **_**I will write.**_** (Because I'm so great at keeping my promises…)**

**I spent some time reading every single beautiful review you guys wrote me. Honestly, it brought tears to my eyes; you guys are just too lovely. I really am a lucky duck. Quack you, quack you, and quack you.**

**In other news, I have changed the titles of my chapters to show a song that I thought suited the chapter, or I listened to while writing :) I highly recommend them!**

**I'd like to give a quick shout out to the amazing **_**AusisWinds-13**_**, for just being all round lovely and amazing. This one's for you, Ausis :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. I do own the **_**games **_**KH1, KH re: Chain of Memories, KH2, KH 358/2 Days, KH re: Coded, and KH Dream Drop Distance (yeah, no BBS fow me D:), so I consider myself pretty lucky.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Shattered<strong>

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><p>"<em>Dad was killed because he knew their all about their dirty little secret."<em>

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><p>Shock.<p>

It's that mind numbing feeling that courses through every nerve in your body. It renders you speechless, causes your hair to stand on end (not that I needed any help with that), makes your blood to freeze in your veins like ice and elevates your pulse to astronomical levels.

And it wasn't what I was feeling at the moment.

I just felt…numb. Maybe I had to wait for the news to sink in.

But right now, facing Cloud's stoic, but expectant face I had to supply an appropriate reaction, to ensure that his story had not gone to waste on me. And it hadn't. I just needed some time, I'm sure. But right now, I was…almost indifferent. I felt heartless. Like there wasn't anything inside me. I didn't just have one bomb dropped on me, I had two. And yet…I felt so hollow; so shell-like.

_Maybe because it's in the past_. I always try to make sure I _don't _dwell on things that have passed. But they have the tendency to sneak up on me when I'm least expecting it, and I knew that the pain that I was trying so hard to keep at bay would hit me when I was alone.

Cloud stared at me, his face was relaxed but his muscles in his shoulders and back were tight with stress and tension; he was filled with anticipation. I needed to put the poor guy out of his misery, in a way that didn't involve killing him.

"Cloud, I-" I attempted to speak. He raised a hand, effectively cutting me off.

"I know what you're thinking," he said, ominously. _Well by all means, please tell me because I can't even begin to process my thoughts._

"Sora," he resumed. "You try too hard to block everything out."

I gaped at this. How did he...?

He continued, "To pretend that events and people don't mean anything to you. But the harder you push it away…the more it's going to hurt. The more it's going to kill you. I…I learned that the hard way."

Now I really _was_ shocked. But I didn't say anything, instead I just nodded. Cloud's eyes were downcast, and his fists were clenching and unclenching. His sky coloured eyes suddenly snapped up to mine, and I took a startled step back.

"Don't tell Aerith about…_him_. Tell her the other stuff…just not this. She's been through enough to have this added on. Tell her about Zack. Just not about–"

"I get it, Cloud. Don't worry."

Cloud nodded at me, and sat down on the floor. I had never seen him so…defeated. A pang of sadness hit me, but I ignored it. His spikes were drooping slightly and his arms were wrapped around himself loosely – I felt like I needed to comfort him, but I had no idea how to do that. He wasn't looking at me. Instead, he busied himself by running his fingers along the floor. I cautiously walked over, and sat beside him. He didn't say anything, just continued to trace patterns on the floor.

_Ugh. This is awkward_.

I decided to pat his shoulder, which was a mistake because the instant I lowered my hand to said shoulder, he gripped it and turned to me with a bewildered expression on his face. I instantly retracted my hand with rapid speed.

"What are you doing?" Cloud asked, his face twisted with an uncomfortable expression.

"Uh…comforting you?" I ventured, scratching my head. Cloud's blond eyebrows shot up his forehead.

"Well…stop." His face held an expression of complete bafflement. I nodded mutely, and quickly jumped up from my spot next to him. I could only handle so much awkwardness in one day.

"Um…I'm going to go talk to my mom, so…" I trailed off, hoping he'd get the hint.

"Oh. Oh yeah, you do that. Just remember what I told you." His eyes held a hardened expression.

I nodded dumbly. "Y-yeah. Okay."

The instant I left the house, I had to grab onto the fence for balance. A sick and dizzying feeling crept over me, and I felt like puking. My head was throbbing, and my thoughts were all mixed up. My dad, Kairi, Rikku, Ventus, Roxas, Mom, and now…_him_. I needed answers. I thought after my chat with Cloud, things would clear up and I would continue on with my blissfully ignorant existence, but alas, fate had other plans.

_Clear head, Sora_. I tried to tell myself. _It'll work itself out, just go find Mom_.

I began to jog down the street, my feet echoing loudly against the fairly empty street. _Left, right, left, right, step, step, step._ It was calming and my mind began to clear. Faster and faster I ran, until I was sprinting. My muscles began to burn with the exertion, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. I believed that if I did, everything would catch up to me, and I wouldn't be able to fight the impending pain off. So I kept running, running away from my problems, running away from my feelings, running away from anything and everything that caused me strife.

It was a brief pleasurable moment, but like all good things it came to an end.

Eventually I was in front of my dumpy old home, panting heavily as the burn in my legs began to manifest itself. I felt an intense stitch in my right side and my heart was beating harder than it had in a while.

_Inhale, exhale, inhale- Oh screw this!_

I burst through the front door.

My mother was sitting by the kitchen table, calculating bills and various other financial requirements for her shop. She looked up at the intrusion, and her instantly face brightened when she saw me. Her smile slowly melted off my face when she noticed my dark expression and she instantly took off her reading glasses and hurried toward me. She placed her small hands on my shoulders and led me to our squishy old sofa. I didn't have the courage to even _look_ at her. I knew the numbness wouldn't last. The pain, the…the _loss_ everything was catching up to me and I felt sick.

"Sora," she murmured quietly to me. I continued to stare at my hands. "Sora, tell me what's wrong sweetheart."

Slowly I raised my gaze to meet with her shining green eyes. She smiled at me encouragingly and comfortingly. I took a deep breath.

"Mom," I began softly. "I went to see Cloud."

She looked confused, but she continued to brush my hair back from my face, and brought me closer to her. Her arms wrapped around me. "What did you see Cloud about?" She asked me.

This was it.

"I saw him…about Dad."

Her reaction was so instantaneous, even I wasn't ready for it.

"_Zack?_" Her voice was barely above a whisper. We barely spoke about him, only in passing really. My mother loved and cared for Cloud too much to ask what happened. I never understood why. If she really loved Dad…wouldn't she want to find out everything, regardless of what people felt? It made no sense.

"Mom…you know how they told us he had died in the field?" Mom nodded, her eyes tearing up. Shinra always sends a representative to the families who suffer casualties. We ended up with one of Dad's old friends, a redhead named Reno (who, now that I think about it, really resembled that Axel guy…) He bore the news with such a solemn, defeated expression on his face…it was so different than what we were used to from all the times that he would visit. It was as if he were robotic; delivering the news, offering condolences, and then leaving.

Mom rested her head on my shoulder and held my trembling hands in hers. It reminded me so much of when were dirt poor, with her doing everything she could to feed Roxas and I – with our hands always asking for more. She'd hold us close and tell us stories of the ancient Keyblade wielders who would protect the worlds as they fell into darkness. She'd sit us in her lap and sing us old Destiny Island songs in the traditional tongue that she'd bothered to learn when she first moved here. Poverty wasn't anything new to her, but having to take care of little kids without another helping hand was new. She never complained, and always did whatever she could to ensure that Roxas and I lived a decent life. She turned everything around by herself, with only a little help from the two of us.

If there was one love that I believed in, it was the love I had for her.

I didn't want to hurt her, but I knew she deserved the truth. Well, at least what I was asked to tell her. I cleared my throat; I was surprised by the roughness of it.

"Cloud and Dad…they found out some information on Shinra. Shinra was hosting these…experiments. Projects, almost. They were classified, and very, _very_ illegal. They were harnessing pure negativity from the Dark Realm and infusing it within bodies. It was _them_ who created the first Unversed, the beings that Ven was working to find out about. All of the creatures were destroyed, but the documents remained; and…" I could barely say the name, "…_Xehanort_ found them."

Mom looked shocked, and confusion still lingered in her expression. I swallowed thickly.

"He recreated them, as you know, but not without discovering the source. Apparently it came from a being that Shinra experimented on – a…a body to host the negative energy. The notes that Cloud and Dad found said that Xehanort had infused _something _into the host body, so that it came out of a comatose state and was…living again."

Mom interrupted for the first time. "How did they…how did they know it was Xehanort?"

"His mark was left everywhere."

She nodded solemnly.

Every time Xehanort attacked or committed some form of _act_ anywhere his mark, a large _χ_ that would appear project over the entire area. That's how he first came to attention. The "chi" or "kye" as it's sometimes pronounced had one worldly meaning. Death.

"They kept the…body caged deep inside the Shinra compound where no one could see or hear it. But it began to think on its own, act on its own. Shinra knew they couldn't control it for too long, and they were going to move him to a safer-"

Mom interrupted again.

"Him?" She said questioningly.

"It." I corrected myself. _Whatever it once was…it definitely isn't human anymore._ My eyes felt watery, and I did my best to blink it away. Mom wasn't faring much better; tiny tears were leaking out of

"It was going to be moved to a different location. So Dad and Cloud decided that they were going to infiltrate Shinra and stop them; to expose Shinra's secret to the worlds and shut down the experiment. Only they were caught. Dad…he risked his life to give Cloud the chance to flee. Dad was killed because he knew all about their secret dirty little secret. And now…the very experiment that he was trying to shut down escaped. And I don't know-"

My voice choked, and I felt tears flowing freely down my face. I hadn't cried since…since…Rikku. But that wasn't important. My Mom, who was clutching me to her and who, despite it all, was still trying to comfort _me_ over herself. Who was whispering in my ear to shush because me in pain caused her to feel pain, that she couldn't stand to see me cry, that she loved me.

And for the first time in a long time, I didn't think about my hatred for love. I didn't think about the fact that love was the cause of so much pain. I only thought about how it was love that was the only thing that got me through the despair that was suffocating me.

The only thing that got me through what I didn't want to tell her.

It would kill her if she knew who the host body of the experiment really was.

After the steady stream of tears dwindled to a simple trickle, Mom finally got up from her spot next to me. She kneeled in front of me and brushed her hand against my slightly damp cheek. I felt slightly emasculated for bawling – but Roxas wasn't here to give me a hard time (and besides, he's the more emotional twin) – and Mom looked at me with a sad smile gracing her lips.

"I'm going to make us some hot chocolate, okay sweetie? Then I'm going to call Roxas home." She pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead, ruffled my hair and went to the kitchen.

In no time at all, my mother had become strong for me. Again.

But I had to get more answers. I only had a few pieces of a much bigger puzzle.

I thought about Cloud. How he blackmailed Shinra into giving both our families freedom and peace. How he forced Shinra to _honour_ Dad, instead of shaming him with their lies. I wondered if anyone else in Shinra knew about Cloud and Dad's plan. Cloud…he'd be pissed if he knew what I was planning on asking Mom; he would say that she would figure it all out. But I took my chances. I _needed_ to know.

"Mom," I called out. She turned toward me, her hands fiddling with the meticulously organized matching mugs she kept from when she lived in Midgar.

"Yes Sora? What is it?"

I gulped. _Well here goes everything_.

"It's about Vanitas…"

Whatever she was expecting me to ask about, it definitely wasn't that. It was random, completely off topic; only linked loosely to Dad by the mutual subject of family, in my Mom's mind. But I knew it held much more meaning and significance than she would understand.

She stared at me with a completely bewildered expression. It then fell into a saddened look, one she always wore whenever we brought up Vanitas or Ventus.

"What about Van, sweetheart?"

"I was just curious about… Well you… You said he died from neurological complications, right?"

"Yes…" She looked at me curiously, mixing the contents of the mugs.

"Where is he buried?"

She blinked owlishly at me. She took a deep breath. "Well, we didn't bury him. We had him cremated."

"Were you there at the cremation?" I asked instantly.

Her face, if it was even possible, turned even more perplexed. Then it morphed into a pained one.

"N-no. I wasn't there. I…I was going through a bad time, and Ven was too little to have to go through that and Zack…your dad didn't want to stress me out. So the hospital had him cremated and sent the ashes to us."

_Damn it_.

"Why…why do you want to know about this, Sora?" Mom asked me curiously.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "If we're getting everything out in the open…"

She nodded, and smiled understandingly, placing two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the kitchen counter. I hurried over to grab one. We sipped in companionable silence.

"What hospital was Vanitas treated in again?" I asked, casually.

Mom thought for a while. Then she frowned.

"The Shinra one. Shinra's Children's Hospital," she murmured darkly.

I froze for an instant. _Crap_. _Cloud wasn't kidding_.

"Oh." I said simply.

I didn't press on the topic again.

When Roxas finally did show, it was late and I was already getting ready for bed. I heard Mom call him up to her room, and I knew that she was going to tell him about Dad.

I nestled deeper into my covers and stared at the glow in the dark stars that Roxas and I stuck on our ceiling aeons ago. I knew then, that there was no way I was going to get any sleep tonight. I couldn't just lie there, could I?

I crept out of my bed, and padded toward my mother's room. I peered through the gap between the slightly open door. Roxas was lying next to Mom, tears silently streaming down his face as he slept. She was stroking his hair, and staring blankly at the wall in front of her. I gently pushed the door open. Her gaze snapped to mine, and she smiled sadly at me. I crept up to her side, and crawled in next to her.

I couldn't remember the last time I had cuddled up to her; it must have been back when I was too little to understand what was going on. But I knew I was safe in those arms, loved even.

"I love you, Mom," I whispered to her, before the cool sensation of sleep overtook me.

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><p><strong>AN: Ugh god. I was going to cut this chapter even shorter, but I thought you guys deserved more for waiting. The next chappie's coming real soon, so watch out for it! :D I have some happier stuff in store for you guys, so keep your eyes peeled for updates ;) It's late here and I am super tired, so when I apologize for any mistakes - please let me know if you find any!**

**As for the lines that I have yet to include into a chapter, they are all coming in the next one (finally, right?) and it shall be good!**

**Here's a refresher for those of you who have forgotten.**

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><p><strong>In the next instalments...<strong>

_"AH! My virgin eyes!"_

_"No Shiki, don't touch that!"_

_"Ventus...?"_

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><p>Word Count: 3 208<p> 


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